The Good Catholic Life

**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O'Connor **Today's guest(s):** Fr. Derek Borek, spiritual director at St. John Seminary * [St. John Seminary](http://www.sjs.edu) * [Program of Priestly Formation, USCCB](http://www.usccb.org/vocations/ProgramforPriestlyFormation.pdf) * [Pastores Dabo Vobis](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-ii_exh_25031992_pastores-dabo-vobis_en.html) **Today's topics:** What is spiritual direction? Is it for everyone? **Summary of today's show:** Fr. Derek Borek joins Scot and Fr. Chris to talk about his work as spiritual director at St. John Seminary; to explain what spiritual direction is; how it is not just for priests and religious, but for all Christians seeking to deepen their relationship with the Lord; and how to go about finding a spiritual director. **1st segment:** Scot welcomed Fr. Chris back to the show and asked him how his Fourth of July weekend was. They had a Mass at the seminary and Fr. Chris discovered that there are particular prayers for Independence Day. The Church acknowledges the good and prays for areas of growth. The prayers talk more about the nation and the work of the Holy Spirit uniting us together. Fr. Chris noted how people of diverse backgrounds are brought together on Independence Day. Scot said it was amazing how diverse the crowd was at Walden Pond in Concord, people speaking 10 or more languages. Growing up in Lowell, Scot heard from his Cambodian and Loatian classmates how precious America is to them. Fr. Chris was able to watch the fireworks from the roof of the rectory at Sacred Heart in East Boston. Scot watched the fireworks from Cambridge. Fr. Chris is getting ready to celebrate a Mass for the Missionaries of Charity on Thursday. They run a day camp for 50 or 50 young people, teaching them about the faith and Mother Teresa. The sisters provide a set of eyes and ears for the kids during the summer while their parents are working. Scot noted that today is his parents' 42nd anniversary. **2nd segment:** Scot welcomed Fr. Borek to the show. He asked him how came to his vocation. He hadn't really thought about the priesthood growing up. In high school, he was greatly influenced by a Protestant friend with whom he discussed faith. He challenged Fr. Derek about what he really believed. So he questioned what he believed and it was in college that he started to sense God's calling to the priesthood. He had a friend die suddenly in an accident and that made him step back and take stock. He became attentive to God's presence in his life. At U. Mass Lowell, he got involved in campus ministry and the chaplains had a great influence on him. After graduating he went to the seminary. Fr. Derek grew up in Quincy and went to public school all his life. There is a diversity in the seminarians who come from public and Catholic schools. His decision to enter seminary was a practical decision. While he'd felt the call for 4 years, he had been resistant. He had no loans to pay off, had no girlfriend, didn't have a job, or grad school lined, so he decided to take the chance and explore the option. Over the next five years, he grew in relationship with the Lord. Like many seminarians, he did not know for sure he had a vocation to the priesthood, but he was willing to discern that in the seminary. Seminary formation helps a man come to a greater understanding of the life and responsibilities of the priest and the best place to learn that is in the seminary. Fr. Chris said the faculty's job is to help men figure out what God wants them to do. Discernment comes from God, from the men, and from the Church and if all three are saying that there is a call, then there is a clear indication. That's an important part of the whole process. The men don't sign their life away by walking in the door. Fr. Chris said a seminarian told him that he wished every Christian man could enter the seminary because even if they don't become a priest they are formed in Christian virtue and gain the tools that would make them great fathers and husbands if not priests. His background helps him remember that men in spiritual direction will have uncertainties and he shouldn't impose on them a sense that they need to have it all figured out. **3rd segment:** In talk about spiritual formation, there are two different fora: the external forum and internal forum. The internal forum contains spiritual direction and it allows confidentiality because it is just between the spiritual director and the seminarian. External forum deals with aspects of formation that would be manifested in his demeanor, public person, and academics. Spiritual directions concerns the inner man. It also pre-supposes a life of prayer. The spiritual director is the third person in a conversation the person is having with the Lord. It's not telling a man what to do, but primarily being attentive to the movement of the Spirit and helping understand more clearly what the Lord is saying to him, particularly the question of what is his vocation. Fr. Chris recalls having people come to spiritual direction, not knowing why they are there, and then as they talk revealing where the Lord is in their life. The spiritual director helps put the pieces on the table and discern where the Lord is active in their lives. It's not just for seminarians. As they are ordained, the men are encouraged to find a spiritual director to keep them honest and accountable and to help direct the prayer life. Fr. Derek said the spiritual director is for discussing the seminarian's relationship with the Lord in a deeper way than they might talk with a formation director. For example, on the issue of celibacy, as the man considers the reality of forgoing marriage and family life, it can have so many effects on the man as he copes with that idea. Or difficulties with academics or relationships with people around him that he feels discussing more confidentially. But first and foremost what's going on in his prayer life. The Sacrament of Reconciliation can be part of spiritual direction, but it's up to the seminarian. That would be ideal, because the relationship allows the director to advise in the most intimate details of life. But it's important that each seminarian be able to choose his confessor. There is training to become a spiritual director. Fr. Derek went to a three-week program at the Institute for Priestly Formation. There were lectures coupled with role-playing as both directee and director. He found it nerve-wracking when they had to role-play before the class. The spiritual director begins the session with prayer, either led by himself or the directee. The latter allows something to come up for discussion from the prayer. Then he allows the seminarian to bring up what he sees as needing to be discussed and then they go from there. If there's something from a past session that needs to be followed up, then Fr. Derek will bring it up. In some sense, it is really the Holy Spirit who directs. Scot said in Confession a priest can't bring up previous confessed sins and ask how the penitent is doing it. In spiritual direction they definitely can bring up issues that come up in spiritual direction. The confidentiality is not the same as the seal of the confessional. If it's working well, the seminarian will see improvement in his own life of grace. If he's committed to his life of prayer, he will grow in knowledge of God, in the life of charity and virtue. Fr. Chris said it is a privileged position for him to see the hand of God working in other's lives. Fr. Derek said when you can the Lord at work in another's life, it helps him to appreciate the ways the Lord works in his own life as well. This was his second year at St. John's. In his first year, he was the Dean of Men, working primarily in the external forum. In two years, he's seen the two difference fora. As a spiritual director, he's been able to get to know a number of the men even better. He's able to see in a more specific manner how the Lord is at work in the lives of these men. It's different than seeing it in the external aspects of their lives. It's another thing to see it at work in their hearts. He has been admitted to a mystery, which is an awesome experience. Fr. Chris said he can only see the external signs of the man's attitudes, but Fr. Derek can see what others cannot. Fr. Chris said the faculty votes on every man that goes through the seminary and make recommendations to their bishops. Fr. Derek does not vote and makes separate recommendations. Fr. Derek said he helps the men warm up to spiritual direction by helping them understand it's a safe environment to talk. He is himself very guarded and careful in opening up to people. **4th segment:** Scot said spiritual direction isn't just for seminarians or priests, but it's a helpful tool for everyone to grow in holiness. Fr. Derek said spiritual direction in the seminary is focused first on discerning vocation to the priesthood and all other aspects that fall under that. But spiritual direction in general is helping someone to grow in intimacy with the Lord. It's for anyone seeking that deeper intimacy. It is a means of helping someone stay accountable to spending that time in prayer and being attentive to where God is active in their life. Fr. Derek began spiritual direction in college and his first spiritual director was a woman religious. In a sense, it's just like what seminarians: an extra pairs of ears to help you determine what the Lord is calling you to and to see the Lord's presence in your life. There priests and religious and even lay spiritual directors. It's about finding the person with whom you'd feel comfortable talking to about the movement in your heart. They should be a holy person who can help. The directee brings their experiences in prayer and receives in seeing God's hand in it. Fr. Chris has many lay people studying at the seminary in the Master of Arts in Ministry or the Theological Institute for the New Evangelization who are required to attend spiritual direction. These people will themselves be offering spiritual direction, even informally, when they return to their parishes, so it is important that they experience it themselves. It's also important for them to be sure they are doing what they're doing for the right reasons. People going through major life changes or struggles are prime candidates for spiritual direction. Fr. Derek said in the major moments of life, we can be more attentive. It's difficult in the ordinariness of life to realize we need to grow more and more in holiness and to be more attentive. They encourage seminarians every day to make an examination of conscience to recognize the blessings they've received and to see the ways God was active in their life and then to be attentive to ways that they were not open to His grace. Spiritual direction takes that one step further, and instead of one day looks at larger parts of their life. Fr. Chris said in his own spiritual direction, he feels like about 75% of the time it's more like coaching him where he needs to improve or reaffirm what he already knows. But there are other moments that are grace0filled where the spiritual director can open the eyes up to a whole new vista that he hadn't even considered. **5th segment:** Scot asked how someone would find a good spiritual director for themselves. Fr. Derek said they should look for someone who is themselves in tune with the Lord, with an active prayer life, and is growing in virtue as well. First, go to the pastor. HE might not be able to provide spiritual direction himself, but he would be a good resource to point you to someone who would be able to direct you. Or a religious community might be able to offer someone who can be a spiritual director. Fr. Chris noted the Oblates at the Shrine of St. Joseph in Lowell and the Franciscans at Arch Street in Boston. He said the person must be comfortable with the spiritual director and the relationship has to be based on trust and respect. Sometimes, you might need a new spiritual director to take you in the new directions you need to go. A good spiritual director will recognize it themselves and take that step first. Fr. Derek said the asks the directee to make a commitment of six meetings and at the end of those meeting they will reevaluate and determine whether this is something that is going to work from both perspectives. Each person needs to have a thick skin to recognize whether the direction is going to work. Scot said it sounds like the best way is to ask people in the faith you trust. Maybe you can take it to prayer and ask God to reveal where to go for a spiritual director.

**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry **Today's guest(s):** Dr. John Garvey, president of Catholic University of America, and Domenico Bettinelli, creative director of the Office for New Media of the Archdiocese of Boston * [Catholic University of America](http://www.cua.edu) * [Office for New Media](http://www.pilotnewmedia.com) **Today's topics:** Catholics in new media; Catholic University of America **Summary of today's show:** Dom Bettinelli joins Scot to talk about new media and how the Church and all Catholics should engage the "digital continent," then Scot and John Garvey, president of Catholic University of America, discuss the link between virtue and the intellectual life and how that resulted in a decision to have single-sex dorms only. **1st segment:** Scot welcomes everyone to the show on this Independence Day holiday. He said Pope Benedict has focused in his recent addresses for World Communications Day on the need for each of us in the Catholic Church to embrace the "digital continent." That will be today's primary topic. He will also interview Dr. John Garvey on his first year as president of the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, as well as his recent decision to make all dorms at the university single sex. Scot welcomed Dom Bettinelli to the show. He's usually behind the scenes of the show, making these shownotes and maintaining the website, but now he's in front of the mike. * ["Social media: Friend or Foe, Google or Hornswoggle," presented by Bishop Ronald Herzog at the US bishops, Fall 2010](http://www.usccb.org/meetings/2010Fall/2010-address-social-media.shtml) * [Pope Benedict's message for the 43rd World Communications Day](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/messages/communications/documents/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20090124_43rd-world-communications-day_en.html) * [Pope Benedict's message for the 44th World Communications Day](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/messages/communications/documents/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20100124_44th-world-communications-day_en.html) * [Pope Benedict's message for the 45th World Communications Day](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/messages/communications/documents/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20110124_45th-world-communications-day_en.html) * [Address by Pope Benedict to the plenary assembly of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, 2009](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2009/october/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20091029_pccs_en.html) * [Address by Pope Benedict to the Congress on "Digital Witnesses: Faces and Languages in a Cross-Media Age," 2010](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2010/april/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20100424_testimoni-digitali_en.html) * [Address by Pope Benedict to the plenary assembly of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, 2011](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2011/february/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20110228_pccs_en.html) Ever since Scot has known Dom, which predates their working together, Dom has been one of the pioneers within the Boston archdiocese for the embracing of new technologies in terms of blogs, Facebook, and Twitter. Dom said is interest in the technology for using it to communicate the faith goes back many years to when he was a child. He was on the leading edge of the Internet and there's been something exciting about connecting to people far and wide throughout the world, to be present to one another even when not physically present. Dom's wife Melanie is also very involved in new media. Scot asked if they met online. They met at Mass during the sign of peace. Dom set up Melanie's first website when they were dating. It was a way for her to communicate with her students when she was teaching at Salem State College. Now he refers to her as the famous blogger in the family with a wide audience. Her blog is at [The Wine Dark Sea](http://www.thewinedarksea.com), which is a reference from Homer--the Greek, not the cartoon character. Scot and Dom will be looking at a document delivered by Bishop Ron Herzog of Alexandria, Louisiana, to his brother bishops at the meeting of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) last November on social media. He got the bishops up to speed on both the technology and why every diocese should embrace it. He also articulated that people who embrace this new form of communication are on a digital continent. Dom said when the Holy Father refers to it as a digital continent he's connecting to the Church's history of evangelization, when the apostles and later Christians spread out the world with the Gospel. This is yet another part of the new world. It's a new place to bring the faith. Bishop Herzog said: >Pope Benedict XVI calls the world of social media a Digital Continent, with natives, immigrants, and even missionaries. He encourages Catholics, especially our priests, to approach this culture of 140 characters and virtual friendships as a great opportunity for evangelization. We are asked to respect the culture of these Twitterers and Facebookers, and to engage on their terms to bring Christ into their “brave new world.” Dom said the natives are anyone under the age of 25, who have grown up without ever knowing a world without the Internet, without email, without instant worldwide communication. Maybe other older people who've been living in this world on a daily basis for years. The immigrants might be anyone else who've seen the Internet, like our parents and grandparents, who use the Internet now to stay connected with family and friends and to be informed and entertained. The missionaries should be all Christians. Pope Benedict is clear about bringing Christ to the Internet, to be Christ for people because the Internet can be a vast wasteland. There's a lot of emptiness. You can see the yearning and even hostility toward faith. **2nd segment:** Bishop Herzog begins his address with: >I often hear people, both in my work and in my circle of friends, who dismiss social media as frivolous and shallow. Who can blame them? > >Twittering. >Status updates. >Blogs. >The very words used by the practitioners seem to beg for ridicule. Their light-hearted twisting of the language suggests that these are the latest fad in a culture that picks up and drops fads quicker than the time it takes me to figure out my cell phone bill. I am here today to suggest that you should not allow yourselves to be fooled by its appearance. Social media is proving itself to be a force with which to be reckoned. If not, the church may be facing as great a challenge as that of the Protestant Reformation. >That sounds like more hyperbole, doesn’t it? But the numbers are compelling. There are more than 750 million Facebook users, bigger than every country but China and India. Bishop Herzog is addressing his brother bishops, most of whom are in their 50s, 60s, and 70s; only a handful of them are in their 40s. Only a handful embrace new media. Dom said it's good he's trying to put them in terms they can grasp. It's easy in this world of consumerism, of a fad a minute, to dismiss this as something that will be here today and gone tomorrow, replaced by some shiny new distraction. But this is a fundamental sea change in communication. This is as big of a change in society as the Industrial Revolution, as Pope Benedict says. It changes everything. The Church has to embrace if we don't want to end up with another problem as big as the Protestant reformation when the Church was slow to embrace the change of communications caused by the printing press. This is something we need to be a leader in. The Church has to be a leader in communications because the Church has the most important message. Scot asked why this is truly a revolution. Dom said it changes the relationship among institutions and individuals. In the past, you get your newspaper from a big corporation with lots of reporters and editors and photographers who hand it to you and it has an authority to it. Then the individual consumes it. It's a one-to-many conversation. With the Internet all those barriers are gone. Anyone can set up a website or start a podcast. Everyone can use Twitter and Facebook. It doesn't cost much money to start these things. You can set up a nice blog for free. A podcast requires a little technical gear and some costs, but compared to starting up a newspaper or magazine or radio station or TV station, it's nothing. The expectations people have are very different. People expect a dialogue with the institutions and organizations they interact with. Some companies already get this. If went on Twitter today and complained publicly about Comcast, you would get a Twitter response from someone who worked for Comcast asking how they can help. People expect an immediacy of response. As the keeper of the Archdiocesan Twitter account, Dom has tried to do some of this. For example, there was someone from the West Coast who went on Twitter and said he needed help from a Catholic in the Boston area to get a priest to visit someone in the hospital. He'd said that it seemed there weren't any priests willing to help someone, which obviously wasn't true. Dom knew that it just had to be a breakdown in communications of some sort. He jumped in and asked how the archdiocese could help. Long story, short: They did get a priest in to see this lady and the guy went from being hostile toward the Catholic Church to being really appreciative and complimentary to what Dom was doing. It was a simple thing, but it goes to what people expect in this one-to-one dialogue. Scot said Bishop Herzog and Pope Benedict talk about how this is a different culture. This is how people receive information, it's how they exchange information, and it's the way they form their ideas about what's going in current events or how the teachings of Jesus Christ as relevant to them. Bishop Herzog writes: >One of the greatest challenges of this culture to the Catholic Church is its egalitarianism. Anyone can create a blog; everyone’s opinion is valid. And if a question or contradiction is posted, the digital natives expect a response and something resembling a conversation. We can choose not to enter into that cultural mindset, but we do so at great peril to the Church’s credibility and approachability in the minds of the natives, those who are growing up in this new culture. This is a new form of pastoral ministry. It may not be the platform we were seeking, but it is an opportunity of such magnitude that we should consider carefully the consequences of disregarding it. He's trying to say to his brother bishops that this isn't a fad, but that this is the way people communicate. The Church needs to embrace it and they need to do it well. That doesn't mean just the bishop has to have a Twitter account, but that he needs to champion and help promote an attitude among everyone working for the Church and every Catholic in the pew to share their faith and information about what they're doing in this way. Dom said it's also not just about links to press releases. It's about being present, having a ministry of presence on the Internet. His caution on egalitarianism is well taken because there can be a sense where every voice on the Internet is as authoritative as the next. Who do I believe, where do I turn for the truth? This is why we need the authoritative voices of the bishop and his appointed ministers online to be that authoritative voice for the Church. Bishop Herzog gave an example of the USCCB's Facebook page which can highlight the power of social media, which can be an inspiration for a parish, a diocese, or a ministry. >The USCCB started a community on Facebook last August. There are now 25,000 ‘fans’ associated with that community. Every day, USCCB staff provides at least four items of information to those 25,000 people: the daily Scripture readings, news releases, links to information on our marriage and vocation websites, and other information. Furthermore, if those 25,000 are like the average profile of a Facebook user, they have 130 friends, or contacts, on Facebook. With one click they can share the information they receive from USCCB. If only 10 percent of the USCCB fans share what they receive from USCCB, we are reaching 325,000 people. Multiple times a day. All it costs us is staff time. Scot said it's the most efficient way of communicating with large numbers of people that we've ever had. Dom said there's no printing costs, no paper, no ink, no trucks to deliver it. Facebook carries the freight. All it takes is a little time. The Archdiocese has a Facebook page: [Facebook.com/BostonCatholic](http://www.Facebook.com/BostonCatholic). We do something similar. There is a priest of day to pray for, Scripture readings of the day, and any interesting news stories that have something to do with the faith in Boston. People link to them and click on them, they love to see their priests' names up there. There's a connection that people have, an identity is created with the Church that they might not otherwise have. People in the Boston area have an identity with the parish especially. This gives them a connection with the Church of Boston, the Archdiocese. It widens the scope a bit. **3rd segment:** Scot asked what the Archdiocese of Boston is doing in social media and how people can connect with it. If you have a Facebook account, go to Facebook.com and search for Boston Catholic or Archdiocese of Boston or go directly to [Facebook.com/BostonCatholic](http://www.Facebook.com/BostonCatholic), click "Like" and become one of the 1,300-plus people who like the Archdiocese. There's no obligation on the user's part. Items from the Archdiocese will show up in your news stream automatically and you can share them with your other Facebook friends, just like Bishop Herzog was talking. There's also Facebook pages for [The Pilot](http://www.Facebook.com/TheBostonPilot) and [CatholicTV](http://www.facebook.com/catholictv) and [this program](http://www.facebook.com/thegoodcatholiclife). Scot asked what's the advantage of liking those pages. One benefit is that it helps promote the good works of those ministries. For The Good Catholic Life, they would see a link to the day's show, including shownotes and a downloadable podcast, photos. The Pilot posts links to articles throughout the day and so readers don't have to wait until the end of the week to see the latest news. Twitter is for very short messages with links to particular stories. The Archdiocese's account is [Twitter.com/BostonCatholic](http://www.twitter.com/BostonCatholic), but CatholicTV, the Pilot, and The Good Catholic Life also have them. Twitter is a different medium. Dom said Facebook has a lot of other stuff going on, but Twitter is focused on that communication. It's also a broadcast medium in which anyone can see what's written. You don't have to be a member or follower to see. But if you do follow you get the messages automatically. But you would join because you want to communicate directly with someone. A lot of people like to "retweet" which is the equivalent of forwarding, the interesting things you read. Dom said if you really want to be entertained, follow Bishop Chris Coyne on Twitter [(@bishopcoyne)](http://twitter.com/#!/bishopcoyne), who's originally from Boston but is now an auxiliary in Indianapolis. He's one of the most amazing bishop-tweeters out there. He gets it. If you want to see what a bishop can do on Twitter, you should follow him. His tweets from when he was at the Indianapolis 500 to give the invocation were priceless. Scot said beyond Facebook and Twitter are blogs and certainly many people know about [Cardinal Seán's Blog](http://www.cardinalseansblog.com), but there are other priests who have blogs. They're a great way to learn about issues, usually in depth. Dom said there are several kinds of blogs, including newsy ones that discuss what's topical, including blogs by canon lawyers and priests who blog about the liturgy and Catholic fathering, blogs about being a great Catholic moms. There's an amazing diversity of intellect and experience. As a Catholic dad, he enjoys reading Catholic moms. The Archdiocese also posts videos on [Youtube](http://www.youtube.com/BostonCatholic) and [Vimeo](http://www.vimeo.com/BostonCatholic). Whenever they use a visual medium, Dom puts it on Youtube and Vimeo. Vimeo has a bit better presentation and technology, while YouTube is just ubiquitous, everywhere. This summer, the Office for New Media is going to Madrid for World Youth Day with the Boston pilgrimage and will be covering the event at [WYDMadridBoston.com](http://www.wydmadridboston.com), where there will be videos, photos, blog posts everyday, following the pilgrims, helping people follow along. Video will be priceless for that because it will be posted within moments of the events taking place in some cases. Scot said the great photo-sharing site is Flickr.com and the Archdiocese's site there is [Flickr.com/BostonCatholic](http://www.flickr.com/BostonCatholic), where George Martell's photos of archdiocesan events are put. Dom said they have some great technology that allows photos to be transmitted instantaneously from George's cameras to Flickr from wherever he is, in real-time. Scot said there's tremendous technology and the archdiocese is trying to use every possible means, often through Dom's fingers on some sort of mobile device or computer keyboard. **4th segment:** Scot welcomes John Garvey to the program. This past week he completed his first year as president of CUA. John said it's flown by and it's been wonderful for him and his family. * [John Garvey's inauguration address as president of Catholic University of America, "Intellect and Virtue: The Idea of a Catholic University"](http://president.cua.edu/inauguration/GarveyInaugurationAddress.cfm) * ["Ending coed dorms at CUA mostly hailed," Washington Times, 6/16/11](http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jun/16/ending-coed-dorms-at-cua-mostly-hailed/?page=all) It's been a completely new experience, even though he and his wife have worked at universities for whole adult lives. He was recently dean of Boston College Law School where the students were mostly older and he'd forgotten what a lot of growing up people do between college and law school. Those six or eight years make a big difference in the interests of the students and the focus of the institution. Scot noted he'd spent a lot of time at Catholic colleges, at University of Notre Dame and BC Law School, but Catholic University is a special kind of Catholic educational institution. John said CUA was begun toward the end of the 19th century as a graduate school o provide higher education to students, many of them priests and religious,who'd mainly been educated in seminaries. The focus on research and graduate education was somewhat unique in America at the time. The university began undergraduate education in the 20th century and they're focusing on it more and more, especially as the role of the laity in the Church has grown since Vatican II. CUA is known as the national Catholic university of the US, founded by the US bishops with the approval of the Holy See. Scot asked how that influences the type of education a student receives compared to other Catholic universities. John said the pontifical faculties of the university means they have a well-known school of theology and the only school of canon law in the United States. They also have pontifical faculties in the school of philosophy. That means they're supervised not just by their professional organizations, but also by the Congregation for Catholic Education in Rome. Another difference is the focus on the Catholic character of the institution. The board of directors comprises about 50 people, 24 of whom are clerical and 18 are all of the cardinals in active service and a dozen bishops from around the US. That board has kept the focus on the mission of the university in service to the Catholic Church. The third difference is the quality of the student life. It's not something they've always done well. They've even faced a challenge in doing it, unlike many of the Catholic universities, which themselves were founded by religious orders which imprinted their particular charisms on the life of the university. Because CUA is the university of the whole Church, they haven't had and they've had to figure out who to do student life in their own and in the past decade they've invited the Conventual Franciscans to help with student life and that has improved things. Scot said Garvey's inauguration was this past January, 2011, and he said Cardinal Seán told Scot that it was one of the best he'd heard in a long time and posted it on his blog. Scot said he think Cardinal Seán liked it because it made the connection between intellect and virtue. Catholic colleges have to help form a more virtuous person. John said his own interest in it arose from the education they got for their own children at Catholic schools. They were concerned when they went to college that they'd learn not just academics, but also how to grow in their commitment to virtue in their own lives. As the president of a Catholic university, he reflects parents may be looking for in his school as well. He thinks it's part of the mission of a Catholic university to concern itself with the development of virtue as well as intellect. **5th segment:** Scot said recently John write an op-ed for the [Wall Street Journal](http://www.opinionjournal.com/public/page/0_0_WP_2600_NewsReel.html?baseDocId=SB20001424052702303745304576361630636338492), where he put the words he shared at his inaugural into practice by making a decision that the dorms at CUA will go back to single sex starting this fall. John does think it's an appropriate signal to send to young people about the kinds of relationships they should have. It's what they would want for their own sons and daughters. He's been surprised at the level of interest in this decision. There have been a number of events on the topic of his inaugural address and at a conference in February, they heard from some young scholars who gave papers on the rates of "hooking up" and binge drinking on college campuses and how these activities took place at higher rates in coed dorms than in single-sex dorms. Scot said some listeners might be surprised that its the norm that larger Catholic universities have coed dorms. What has led to that trend? Will this swing the pendulum back? John said in 30 years we went from single-sex dorms to coed dorms, which is bound up in a lot of changes in society. Part of it was due to the changes brought by Title IX bringing more equality to women in many areas they did not, which he says was good. Changing to coed dorms was kind of just caught up in that rush to change. He said it's good for young men and women to get to know one another in college, so he's not calling for a change back to single-sex education. John said the reaction has been positive on the whole. He's found about 75% of people in favor, but of course there will always be some who are unhappy. This weekend, parishes in the Archdiocese of Boston will be taking up a collection for Catholic University of America. John said there's no diocese in America as generous as the Archdiocese of Boston to CUA. Every dollar raised is given back as scholarship aid to students from those dioceses and parishes. Scot said many contributors may not have attended CUA, but all Catholics should feel part of the mission. Having a Catholic university in Washington, DC, is important for all of us. John said they also continue to educate the future leadership of the Catholic Church as well. It's remarkable how many bishops and priests come through CUA for their higher education. But also the future lay leaders in Catholic colleges, high schools, and parishes as well. For the next year, CUA is conducting strategic planning for the next 10 years. They're already looking for a focus on undergraduate education to improve it. They also want to improve their fundraising, to make it more on par with what other Catholic universities are doing.

**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O'Connell **Today's guest(s):** Fr. Jay Finelli, Pastor of the Church of the Holy Ghost in Tiverton, Rhode Island * [Church of the Holy Ghost, Tiverton, Rhode Island](http://www.holyghostcc.org/) * [iPadre](http://www.ipadre.net/) * [iPadre TV](http://www.ipadre.tv/) * [SQPN](http://www.sqpn.com) * [Steaming Priest](http://www.steamingpriest.com/) **Today's topics:** Fr. Jay Finelli, priest of the Diocese of Providence and the iPadre podcasting priest **Summary of today's show:** Fr. Jay Finelli **1st segment:** Scot welcomed Fr. Mark back to the show. They discussed Fr. Mark's plans for the weekend and Scot shared his plans. His family is beginning a new family tradition with a sleepover in his brother's yard with all the kids. Scot's not big on the idea of sleeping outside. Scot asked Fr. Mark about the close of the fiscal year for the Metropolitan Tribunal. Today marks Fr. Mark working in the central administration for the past 10 years. He never imagined in seminary that he work so long outside of a parish. Two-thirds of his priesthood, 14 of 21 years, have been outside of parish ministry (including four years of canon law studies.) Today's guest, Fr. Jay Finelli, has a particular ministry, in addition to his parish work, working in podcasting and on the Internet. **2nd segment:** Scot and Fr. Mark welcomed Fr. Jay to the show. Fr. Jay is based in Tiverton, Rhode Island, which borders the Diocese of Fall River and he knows Scot's brother, Fr. Roger Landry in New Bedford. His parish is much closer to the Diocese of Fall River's cathedral than his own Diocese of Providence's cathedral. Fr. Jay was ordained in 1992. Before that, he went to Mass a child because his parents too him. He had friends who were involved in the charismatic renewal and when he got involved he started going to daily Mass. He started to think about becoming a deacon, then started to feel the tug of the priesthood. This was when he was about 18 years old. He waited about 3 years to begin the formal process of discernment. He'd gone into junior college and studying science, but then he decided to apply to the seminary in his diocese. At first they didn't think he would do well at the diocesan seminary academically. He went to Holy Apostles Seminary in Cromwell Connecticut. He met Franciscans from Kennebunk, Maine, and joined them for 7 years. When the Iron Curtain fell, the order decided to move to Lithuania, which he didn't want to do, so he left the community and went back to Providence, where he was incardinated. The Franciscans sent him to St. John Seminary and he graduated in 1991. He went to St. Matthew's in Cranston, Rhode Island. It was a big change to go from a large house of men his age to a rectory with just a couple of priests. After a year, he went to St. Gregory the Great, in Warwick, then St. Kevin in Warwick, which had the largest parochial school in the diocese. From there he went to the largest Portuguese-speaking parish in the diocese, St. Francis Xavier. The people there were on fire. At daily Mass, the singing of the people would blow off the roof. He doesn't know Portuguese, but he would read the prayers in Portuguese and he had a translator for the Gospel and his homily. In his current parish, there's still a sizable contingent of people of Portuguese background. Holy Ghost in Tiverton was his first pastorate and he's been there for 9 years. Scot asked him what it's like to have been there for 9 years, to see half-generation of family development there. It's awesome to baptize a child and then to give them First Communion a few years later. It gives him a new perspective. His first seminarian was 13 years old when Fr. Jay arrived and now he's just graduated from Providence College and is heading to Rome for seminary. He considers him his first "son." Scot asked what it's like to have someone he mentored to choose to enter the seminary. Fr. Jay said priests look at parishes as their family. It's moving to see how he's come a long way. It's powerful to see God's graces working in a young man's life. Fr. Mark said he was in seminary with Fr. Jay at the same time, with two years difference. He said the rector at the time used the same image when talking about being a priest. Don't think your celibacy is without fruitfulness is what he used to say. Fr. Jay said the last ordination from that parish was 70 years ago. He believes that if you don't give priests to the church, then you don't deserve one and that's for the whole church. Many people in the parish felt that the young man would become a priest. They are all proud of him. His acceptance of a call in today's counter-cultural world let's people say that if he's willing to do it with all the crises and the world's attitudes to the Church then there's something real and tangible to the life they've chosen. **3rd segment:** Scot said both recent Holy Fathers have frequently written about the need for the Church to be present in new media, especially priests. Fr. Jay has long embraced this as part of his ministry. Fr. Jay originally got into web design back in 1995. He knew that the Internet was the future. One of the first websites he built was for the Diocese of Providence and his parish at the time. They wanted to do a radio talk show, but the technology wasn't there. But later he learned about podcasting and had to learn how to do it. He knew that if we want to reach the people we have to go out where they are. If he could do online TV or radio, it would be another opportunity to reach. When he hard Fr. Roderick Vonhögen, he knew it could be done. He started his podcast in September 2005. He know has 228 episodes of iPadre. Sometimes it's difficult to do with all that a pastor has to do, but he feels the Holy Spirit calling him. A podcast records a radio show and puts it online. They can then subscribe to it and download it to their computer or an iPhone. His theme is "Catholic life and then some." He integrates all of his interests in life. He brings in every aspect of his life, including soundseeing tours of places he visits. The listener can't see what Fr. Jay is seeing, but Fr. Jay describes it and the listener can use their imagination. He recalls Fr. Roderick's soundseeing tours in St. Peter's Square when Pope John Paul was dying and you're crying along with them as they speak. He finds some people go back to his very first program and start listening. But his general topics include interviews with people from across the country or around the world. He even records on his vacations or while engaging in his hobby with live steam railroading. Fr. Jay said a reporter from the local TV station was even on his show once discussing Pope Benedict celebrating Mass ad orientem (where the Pope celebrates Mass facing in the same direction as the people.) Recently, Fr. Jay has been doing episodes on the upcoming new translation of the Roman Missal that's going into effect this coming Advent. He talks about why there's a new translation, that there's nothing to be afraid of. His podcast can reach anyone in the world who has an Internet connection. He streams all of his Masses from the parish (like a live TV broadcast over the Internet), and he had been wondering if anyone was watching. Then he got an email from a disabled man in Saskatchewan who said it was the only Mass he could get. If you go to iPadre.TV, the camera is on live 24/7 showing the adoration chapel and altar of the church. He knows people who do holy hours in front of the computer. Scot asked how he would compare ministering to people in front of him, who he can see and touch, from ministering to people online. You can't get to know people as close as you can in a parish, but there is a community online. There is a need for it not just to be an online community. He was contacted by a lawyer in Texas who traveled to Rhode Island to learn how to podcast about his profession and his faith. They had built a friendship online. Fr. Jay is a member of the Star Quest Production Network (SQPN). They all went to a conference in California and even though he hadn't met them before, they knew each other in a way. Scot said there aren't many priests who have embraced this kind of ministry because they are not familiar with the technology. He said their call is to preach the Gospel everywhere. It's an opportunity for priests. He knows some priests who aren't comfortable with technology, but it's important not to be frightened by it. He thinks it's important for every pastor to find someone in the parish to help them. Fr. Mark said at a recent gathering of priests, everyone had the breviary on their iPhone or iPad. No one had a book. Fr. Jay said every parish should have a website that is dynamic and updated; that has Mass times; that introduces the pastor. Then you can get help to start a Twitter or Facebook profile. He's had people come to his parish because of his podcast. He's also heard people say they've returned to confession or Mass or to have their marriages validated or even to convert to the faith. He knows his ministry isn't just in Tiverton. Pope Benedict knows this too, that priests can touch many souls in many places. On Tuesday, Pope Benedict tweeted using an iPad at the Vatican. Cardinal Sean has a blog and uses a Kindle and just got an iPhone. Scot said Cardinal Sean isn't a technology geek, but appreciates it as age 67. So even a priest in his 50s can do the same, to embrace websites, to build community online. Fr. Jay is inspired by the Cardinal's blog because it shows he's crossed the border of what's safe. Other bishops have been inspired it. He was the first cardinal to have a blog. The name iPadre.net wasn't difficult to get but he thought about it a lot. As a Mac fan, he liked the connection with iPod. **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. * [Gospel for Sunday, July 3, 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Matthew 11:25-30)](http://www.usccb.org/nab/070311.shtml#gospel) >At that time Jesus exclaimed: “I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to little ones. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.” >“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.” Scot said it's really two different Gospels: the first part is about praise, the second is about how we are invited to come to Jesus. Fr. Jay said it is a call to intimacy. God wants us to know him, not to be distant friends. St. Therese of Lisieux had that intimacy, was a down-to-earth simple friend who knew the Lord. Also, it's about laying down the burdens we all have, to come to Him to be refreshed. Fr. Mark said the first part of the Gospel, where God reveals this to little ones, we know we are to be like children. Sometimes we over-think religion. It's not astrophysics. Fr. Soper, who was on a few weeks ago, said a scientist can think about the origins of the universe, but he can't ask why. A scientists can get so stuck on science, that he can't know what children know about God. Scot asked why Jesus is praising His Father for hiding these things? First, he wants us to be humble, like St. Therese, to be simple, straightforward, trusting and obedient. He doesn't want us to be arrogant, to be know-it-alls. He exalts those who are humble as the way to know theFather. Fr. Jay said a friend tells him, "No brains, no blockages." He said priests sometimes are so educated that they let it get in the way of their relationship with the Lord. Fr. Mark said he once preached on the yoke in the Gospel. He said, "It may be light, but it's still a yoke." Religion is not pill that makes you happy. At the end of the Mass, a couple told him that he ruined their favorite Gospel. The subtlety of the yoke is what's important. Scot said we should have a simple faith and then secondly, Jesus qualifies the invitation: All who labor. He wants us to work at life and to work at our faith. He's not saying come to Him and there won't be any burden, but that He'll provide the rest. At some point, Jesus carries the weight with us. In the spiritual life, Jesus helps carry our yoke, but at some point in faith development, we grow by carrying some of His yoke, the cross, by embracing the cross. Fr. Jay said sometimes we carry the yoke of someone we know who is suffering. Fr. Mark said classically understood, a good yoke fits the particular beast, which Jesus would know as a carpenter. So our yoke is something we can carry with Jesus. Scot asked what rest Jesus is talking about. Fr. Jay said it's a spiritual rest. Peace is not a lack of conflict, but being one with the Lord. Fr. Mark agreed. It's not just the rest of eternal life. There's a peacefulness of knowing God's will. Fr. Mark has a peacefulness in his 10 years of ministry, even with the difficult times, because he knows it's what God wants him to do. Fr. Jay said that while in this life we all have a cross, Jesus says His yoke is easy and the burden is light. Maybe if we had a bigger cross, we couldn't bear it. But we don't carry our cross alone. Scot said the more we love like Jesus, the more we become humble of heart. The more we know about God the lighter the burden.

**Listen to the show:** [Subscribe for free in iTunes](http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-good-catholic-life/id425362545) **Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Susan Abbott **Today's guest(s):** Antonio Enrique, Editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, Executive Editor of The Anchor, the newspaper of the Diocese of Fall River * [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:** Pope Benedict's 60th anniversary of ordination, he launches a Vatican news website with a tweet, and appoints a new archbishop of Milan; Fr. Roger's editorial on the Church's pastoral care of those with same-sex attraction; the US bishops issue a document on assisted suicide **Summary of today's show:** Scot and Susan are joined by Fr. Roger Landry and Antonio Enrique to discuss the news of the week, including Pope Benedict's 60 years as a priest; an historic papal tweet to launch a new website; a significant appointment of an archbishop; Fr. Roger's editorial on what being "welcoming" really means; and the US bishops' new policy on assisted suicide. **1st segment:** Scot welcomed Susan back to the show. They noted that Cardinal Seán gave Pastoral Center employees Friday off for the long weeked. The end of June is busy at the Pastoral Center to end the fiscal year and finish programs before the height of the summer period. This week, because the Pilot is on its two-week hiatus, news stories are from the Anchor and from Catholic News Service. Also, Greg Tracy is on vacation so his boss, Antonio Enrique, is here in his place. **2nd segment:** Scot welcomed Fr. Roger and Antonio to the show. Scot said it's great to have Antonio to have on the show finally. He's been the editor of the Pilot for 10 years. His first week was the week of September 11, 2001. The newspaper's offices were downtown in Boston. It was quite a hectic time as they reported on the events in relation to the Church. One of the big stories this week was Pope Benedict celebrating his 60th year as a priest. He gave a homily as the Mass of Sts. Peter and Paul where reflected on his 60 years. Fr. Roger celebrated his 12th anniversary on Sunday and he can't imagine how rich the experience of 5 times that many years would be. The Pope almost never preaches on the first person singular in his homilies. He recalls being frightened at his ordination when he realized Jesus would be using his own very being to forgive sins and bring the Body of Christ to others, that he was immersed in wonderment at being a priest and this continues to today. He also talked about what friendship with the Lord means and led a public examination of conscience by asking us whether we make the commitment back to Jesus that Jesus makes to us. He also applied the image of how great wine is made with sunshine and rain and crushing of grapes and fermenting to his own experiences in life of joy and suffering. * ["Pope marks 60 years as a priest, bestows palliums on archbishops," CNS, 6/29/11](http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1102591.htm) Scot was struck by the Pope saying that this calling of the priest to friendship with God is "so awe-inspiring that one can feel daunted as the decades go by amid so many experiences of one's own frailty and his inexhaustible goodness," he said. Susan noted that the Holy Father connected the pallium that was being imposed upon new archbishops at the Mass with this Sunday's Gospel on the yoke of Christ. * ["Papal tweet launches news portal," Zenit, 6/28/11](http://www.zenit.org/article-32956?l=english) * ["Vatican to launch web portal that streamlines print, TV, online news," CNS, 6/27/11](http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1102562.htm) * [News.Va](http://www.news.va/en) On Tuesday, Pope Benedict launched a new News site for the Vatican. Antonio said he is happy to see the Vatican embracing the new media, that now everyone is online, not just young people. That the Pope launched the site personally shows the importance he attaches to this. * [The historic Papal tweet](http://twitter.com/#!/news_va_en/status/85740997933404160) >"Dear Friends, I just launched http://t.co/fVHpS9y Praised be our Lord Jesus Christ! With my prayers and blessings, Benedictus XVI" Scot said it was very powerful that the Pope did this on an iPad with a tweet. Susan said we have to give credit to Cardinal Seán for being at the forefront of this. She also noted how the Pope has said he wants to be present wherever the people are found. Fr. Roger said the Vatican is trying to integrate the separate departments in television, radio, a news service, its website, the Fides missionary news agency and more, and you used to need an expert Vaticanologist to find these things. It used to be that when the Pope traveled over the weekend, you didn't read his homilies until Tuesday. Now, the speeches will be available immediately, including PDF copies of L'Osservatore Romano, radio stories, video, and other forms. Pope Benedict for the last several years in his World Day of Communications messages has been calling the whole Church to evangelize in the new media, particularly priests. Pope Benedict is leading the way. * ["Pope names Cardinal Scola to head Archdiocese of Milan," CNS, 6/28/11](http://www.catholicnews.com/data/briefs/cns/20110628.htm) The Pope also made a significant appointment in the new archbishop of Milan, one of the five most important dioceses in the world. It's one of the largest dioceses in the world and almost every archbishop of Milan is considered a possibility to become next Pope. Cardinal Angelo Scola was the Patriarch of Venice previously. Antonio said Scola is very forward-looking. He's very interested in Christian-Muslim dialogue. He's been a personal friend of the Holy Father for many years. Antonio said it's significant that Cardinal Scola goes back to Milan. He's from Milan, but wasn't ordained for that archdiocese because the archbishop at the time did not like the Communion and Liberation movement that Cardinal Scola belonged to then. Fr. Roger studied under Cardinal Scola in Rome. He had three courses with him at the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family at the Lateran University. He was incredibly brilliant but a terrible teacher, Fr. Roger said. His sentences would go on and on. Yet absolutely brilliant and a tremendous interpreter of the theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar and John Paul II, especially his theology of the body. He's a great theologian in his own right. He's an incredible personal and dynamic man. He always treats others with great attention. **3rd segment:** St. Cecilia Parish in Boston has been in the news lately with regard to a Mass that had been planned for gay pride month in Boston. Fr. Roger wrote an editorial in the Anchor about how the Church cares for those with same-sex attraction. * ["Toward the True Pastoral Care of Those with Same-Sex Attractions," Fr. Roger Landry, The Anchor, 7/1/11](http://catholicpreaching.com/index.php?content=articles&articles=20110701anchor) Fr. Roger wrote that the Church calls for authentic welcome of those with this attraction, but that doesn't mean just making them feel at ease, but offering the great gifts of the sacrament of cleansing through conversion in confession. He said there's been a great calumny against the Church that the Church doesn't love people with same-sex attraction because we ask them to leave the gay culture behind. We're not loving and serving people if we don't offer them the truth and Christ's authentic love. He said one of the issues facing the whole Church is whether so-called welcome Masses really welcome people or encourages dissent from the Church. Antonio said the Church's teaching is clear so it's hard to understand why it's so often misunderstood. The Church welcomes everybody already, but the Church is about conversion, about where we are and where Christ wants us to be, leaving what is wrong and embracing what is right. When we try to say that people don't need to change, we are not encouraging them to embrace Christ, but to continue a destructive lifestyle. Christianity is about happiness, and that happiness is found in being in conformity with the mind and will of Christ. Susan said parishes are already welcoming and open to all who want to come to Christ. But they are also teaching the truths of the Catholic faith, because people have a right to the truths of the faith. Scot said sometimes "welcoming" is used by some people who have an agenda that is in contradiction to the objectives of the Church and the truths of the faith. Fr. Roger said he was moved by someone in a Globe article who said she suffered more for "coming out" as a Catholic than she did for "coming out" as someone with same-sex attraction. Being Catholic is much more likely to result in discrimination in some circles. He said some parishes give a wink and a nod to Catholic teaching and promise that people with unrepentant sin need never worry about being made to feel uncomfortable. **4th segment:** Scot said at their June meeting, the US bishops' conference approved their first document on physician-assisted suicide. * ["Bishops approve first major statement on physician-assisted suicide," CNS, 6/16/11](http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1102416.htm) * ["To Live Each Day with Dignity: US Bishops' Policy Statement on Assisted Suicide," USCCB, 6/16/11](http://www.usccb.org/toliveeachday/) Cardinal DiNardo of Houston was the chair of the bishops' pro-life committee and had much to say on the topic. >"With expanded funding from wealthy donors, assisted suicide proponents have renewed their aggressive nationwide campaign through legislation, litigation and public advertising, targeting states they see as most susceptible to their message," the document says. "If they succeed, society will undergo a radical change." It specifically criticizes the former Hemlock Society, "whose very name reminded people of the harsh reality of death by poison," for changing its name to Compassion & Choices. "Plain speaking is needed to strip away this veneer and uncover what is at stake, for this agenda promotes neither free choice nor compassion," the policy statement says. This shows the power of words. They chose a name that gives the impression that they are about life, not about death. Susan said bravo to the bishops for a document that is very much needed. She said she'd recently been to a eugenics exhibit at Harvard University. It shows how the Nazis worked to create an "ideal society". She said assisted suicide is part of that slippery slope. She could picture an argument for ending life "compassionately" in order to save money for causes like books for kids to make it sound good. The head of the Compassion & Choices responded: "While we respect religious instruction to those of the Catholic faith, we find it unacceptable to impose the teachings of one religion on everyone in a pluralistic society. We believe end-of-life care should follow the patient's values and beliefs, and good medical practice, but not be restricted against the patient's will by Catholic Church doctrine." Cardinal DiNardo responded that true compassion is to bring assistance to people. Also, the Church needs to be in the public square because it's one of the few institutions defending the poor, needy, and suffering against these threats against the dignity of the human person. Society turns people into objects, but the Church upholds people's God-given dignity and right to life. Scot's favorite quote from the document: A society that devalues some human's lives, by hastening and facilitating their deaths, will ultimately lose their respect for their other rights and freedoms. Fr. Roger said its was encouraging that the language of the document is direct and practical and forthright. Cardinal DiNardo said clearly that if we don't do this, people will die. As we've seen in the Netherlands where assisted suicide is legal, it's not just people at the very end of terminal illness who seek suicide, but even teens who are heartbroken killing themselves under this law. And when we say some lives are less worthy, we can say "your" life is less worthy. We move from voluntary assisted suicide move to "involuntary" assisted suicide and incredible pressure is put to bear on the ill to kill themselves for the convenience of others. The movement for assisted suicide is pushing this issue in many places, including Massachusetts. Fr. Roger encourages all Catholics to read this brief document so they can have informed conversations with family and friends when it come up. Scot's second favorite quote from the document: > The founders of our country declared that each human being has certain inalienable rights that government must protect. It is no accident that they named life before liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Life itself is a basic human good, the condition for enjoying all other goods on this earth. Therefore the right to life is the most basic human right. Other valued rights—the right to vote, to freedom of speech, or to equal protection under law—lose their foundation if life itself can be destroyed with impunity. Also in the Anchor this week is a story about a movement to strip Medicare funding from abortion providers at the state level. Susan recommended stories on our own Sr. Olga Yaqob, who is starting a new religious order in Boston. Scot said it's uncommon for a bishop to ask a religious sister to start a religious order, as Cardinal Seán has done here. * ["With zeal for humility, she brings a new order to town," Boston Globe, 6/26/11](http://articles.boston.com/2011-06-26/news/29706472_1_new-order-archdiocese-religious-order) * ["Iraqi sister founding religious order to serve Boston's spiritually poor," CNA, 6/23/11](http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/iraqi-sister-founding-religious-order-to-serve-bostons-spiritually-poor/) * ["BU chaplain selected to start new order of nuns," Boston Herald, 6/20/11](http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1346645) Antonio noted that the Pope has advanced several causes for sainthood, including those from his native Spain from the Spanish Civil War. Antonio's own parents and grandparents lived through this time in which people were murdered for their faith, including thousands of priests and religious. He said we cannot forget this because it shows that this can happen anywhere. Spain itself was a very Catholic country that respected people's rights and it all changed so quickly. * ["Pope advances sainthood causes, including priest killed by Nazis," CNS, 6/27/11](http://www.catholicnews.com/data/briefs/cns/20110627.htm)

**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams **Today's guest(s):** Fr. Roderick Vonhögen, founder and CEO of the Star Quest Production Network * [SQPN](http://www.sqpn.com) * [Catholic New Media Celebration](http://cnmc.sqpn.com) * [Catholic Media Guild](http://www.catholicmediaguild.com/) * [Father Roderick on Twitter](http://www.twitter.com/FatherRoderick) **Today's topics:** Dutch priest Fr. Roderick Vonhögen, a leader in Catholic new media, on his vocation as a priest and media evangelist **Summary of today's show:** Fr. Roderick Vonhögen, a Dutch priest who is a leader in Catholic new media, joined Scot and Fr. Matt to discuss how he discerned his vocation to the priesthood as a Dutch teen at Lourdes, and how Star Wars and the isolation of his first pastoral assignment led to the creation of the premier Catholic new media apostolate in the world, SQPN. **1st segment:** Scot welcomed Fr. Matt back to the show. Fr. Matt said this past weekend he was in Billerica for a young adult retreat, "Life is Good in the Holy Spirit" and then on Monday for the youth harbor cruise. The retreat is about moving deeper into the gifts of the Holy Spirit that we received at baptism and confirmation. In the middle of July they have their [Witness to Truth](http://www.one4boston.org/witness-to-truth) high school leadership institute and in August the [Witness to Hope](http://www.one4boston.org/witness-to-hope) middle school leadership institute. Institute is a misnomer because it's really a lot of fun. It's about getting to meet peers from all over the Archdiocese while going deeper into their faith. For the high school institute, they marry Steven Covey's "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" to elements of the faith. Today is the 60th anniversary of Pope Benedict's ordination and in Rome is the special celebration of the imposition of the pallium on new archbishops of the past year. Today is also Cardinal Seán's birthday. Wish him happy birthday tonight at the Cathedral during a Holy Hour in honor of Pope Benedict's ordination. **2nd segment:** Scot and Fr. Matt welcome Fr. Roderick Vonhögen to show. He is a priest of the Archdiocese of Utrecht, the Netherlands and CEO of SQPN. Some of our listeners may have met Fr. Roderick last year at the Catholic New Media Celebration here in Boston. Scot asked him about his journey to the priesthood. He never thought of himself as a priest as a child. He didn't think of it as a glamorous or exciting life. He wanted to travel the world and experience new things. He's always worked in media. As a child, he and his brother bought one of the first consumer computers on the market. When he was about 17 years old, he was one of the few young people going to church on Sundays and remembered fierce debates with his classmates. At the time, Pope John Paul II came to visit the Netherlands and it was a disastrous visit because, basically, he wasn't welcomed. The criticism of the Church made him ask, if the Church was so outdated, why had it lasted for 2,000 years. So he started to study his faith and began to see the beauty and truth of the Church.He began to conclude that if faith was so important, he started to feel the pull of prayer and didn't know how to do it. His father gave him an abbreviated version of the Breviary and he began to pray during the day. That's when God saw the door open and Fr. Roderick felt God pulling him. He began to ask God to show him that God is real in order for his life to be changed and God took that invitation. His parents became concerned he was praying so much because it was so atypical. His parents were regular parishioners, but they were not welcoming to the idea of the priesthood for him because it was so counter-cultural. They did send him on a weeklong youth conference at Lourdes, France, and that was such an amazing experience, kind of like world Youth Day. There were 50,000 youth there and he finally found lots of young people like him. He was also introduced to Eucharistic Adoration there. He met many young priests, which he'd never seen. During that pilgrimage, he realized God wanted something from him, although he still had not thought of the priesthood. So he began to pray to Mary at the grotto in Lourdes and asked her to tell him. He told her that he would not leave until he got an answer. Around 2am, it suddenly dawned on him that he was to become a priest. There was no doubt in his mind. So he went home to tell his parents and they were shocked. From that day on, he had to continually convince his parents he was serious and it wasn't just wacky idea from France that would go away. They sent him to their parish priest for whom he had an immense respect. The priest told him that if he had to choose again he wouldn't have become a priest and said it wasn't a good life. Fr. Roderick was shocked and felt sorry for him, but it didn't change his mind. Since then other priests have confirmed him in his vocation. Since that experience in the grotto, he's never had a doubt. Scot said in his life, he's also been very direct in his prayer when seeking God's will in difficult decisions. He's also found that God has always answered his prayer in those circumstances. Fr. Roderick said God never lets you down, even if the answer is not always what you expect. Fr. Matt said it's amazing that when you give God that time in prayer, He does speak to us in that perseverance. God delights when we come before Him in that way. Fr. Roderick said Mary played a significant role in his faith. She was the go-to person in his faith because he was a complete newbie in faith. Even the idea of praying to God was difficult. But praying to Mary felt so easy because she's a mother and she knows how children behave and misbehave sometimes. He felt she could bring him closer to her Son.After all she was Jesus' own teacher and guide. Fr. Matt pointed out how John Paul in his pontificate always pointed us to Mary, to go through her to Jesus. He asked how Mary helped him grow in his priesthood. Fr. Roderick said in his media work, Mary is his guide. She literally carried Jesus to the world in her pregnancy and at the wedding at Cana she was there to mediate the situation and bring people to Christ. In his media work, he tries to model that work in a Marian way. His job is to bring people into contact with Jesus. When he records a show or writes a blog post, he's doing what Mary has done, bringing people to Jesus. **3rd segment:** Scot said Fr. Roderick helps lead the Church in new media. He asked Fr. Roderick why he went into this work. Fr. Roderick said it goes back to his first pastoral assignment as a priest when he was assigned to a small, remote Dutch village. It was such a different life for him as someone who grew up in a city. There were little means of communication with the outside world and he felt very isolated from the world. At about that time, the Internet was becoming popular and he had been used to working with it at the university. So he got an early dial-up connection and started to notice that there was a huge community of Star Wars fan, which had been an ongoing passion of his. He'd felt like Luke Skywalker, stuck in a little village, dreaming of going out into the world. At the time George Lucas was working on the Star Wars prequels and he started to blog about it. He got many visitors to his website, up to 40,000 per day. Then people knew he was a priest so people began to ask him questions about faith related to Star Wars and he started doing pre-catechesis. He eventually got invited by Lucasfilm to go to San Francisco to visit their studios. And at a convention of fans, people recognized him as the Star Wars priest and he learned that people returned to their faith because of their contact with him. Scot said Pope Benedict has encouraged Catholics to move into the "digital continent" and use the elements of the culture to bring Christ to people. Fr. Roderick said you often just need a spark to kindle the faith. After his assignment ended in that village, his bishop sent him to Rome to study for doctorate in theology. While there, he encountered some people doing media training at the Pontifical Gregorian University, and he was told he could do a second study in social communications for free. After two or three weeks, he felt suddenly that this is what he needed to do. He was learning how to engage people and how to reach people who are not Catholic. His bishop gave him permission to change from his theology doctorate to just social communications. After 2 years he returned to the Netherlands in the village of Amersfoort, where he has 10 churches. That's when he discovered podcasting, which is like radio, but you could download it over the Internet to your computer or iPod (or when they became available years after, iPhones). at the time he received an invitation from the Vatican to speak at a conference on Church and the media. While he was there, he decided to record a podcast of Pope John Paul to show the conference how you could make one so easily. But while he was there, John Paul became sick and was rushed to the hospital. On a reflex, he jumped in a cab to the hospital and began recording an audio diary of those days. He put that online and within a couple of days he had thousands of listeners around the world. People asked him to tour Roman sights and explain them so he began doing that. After John Paul recovered, he returned home. But not long after, John Paul fell sick again and Fr. Roderick wanted to be in Rome at that moment when the Pope needed. He was in St. Peter's Square the night John Paul died and was continuously recording as it happened. This was unlike anything that was being done in the regular media. He was a priest giving his personal take on the events, not a reporter doing a stand up. He was also there during the conclave when Pope Benedict XVI was elected. That was the beginning of SQPN. Scot asked him what it was like for him when he heard Pope Benedict's name announced after the election. Fr. Roderick remembers how excited he was to hear Cardinal Ratzinger's name announced. He recalls being able to get inside the Vatican before the conclave to interview the cardinals. So he went in where the priests were allowed to go to concelebrate Mass at noon and then was standing in the place where the cardinals gathered during their lunch. He met Cardinal Lustiger of Paris and Cardinal Ratzinger was there and said at the time saying that he could be standing in the presence of the next Pope. Because Fr. Roderick has a responsibility to his parish, he needed to make other kinds of programs than travelogues to draw people into the life of the Church. So he went back to his roots in the Star Wars blog, and thought about audio programs on topics like Star Wars and J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and even Harry Potter, which was controversial at the time. He saw how he could use those topics to talk about the Catholic symbols and themes within those works. He called the first series, The Secrets of Harry Potter, and immediately had a huge audience. Just a few years ago, Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code was all the rage and then his book Angels and Demons became a movie too, so he decided to expose the ridiculousness within those books. He went to Rome for one day, starting at 6am, and went to all the places described in Dan Brown's books and told the real story of them. He made thirteen or fourteen episodes of an hour each. He called it the Secrets of Angels and Demons. Apple put that series on the front page of the iTunes store as a recommended pick and he had 50,000 people who'd never listened to what he'd done before. Many of them came into other programs and became part of the SQPN community. He's heard from many people who started listening to his first episodes of Harry Potter and Angels and Demons who have since converted with their whole families to the Catholic faith. **4th segment:** It’s time to announce the winner of the weekly **WQOM Benefactor Raffle**. Our prize this week is a copy of the EWTN DVD [Crossing the Goal: Our Father](http://www.ewtnreligiouscatalogue.com/CROSSING+THE+GOAL+OUR+FATHER+-+DVD/cid=534/page_no=1/edp_no=18645/shop.axd/ProductDetails), featuring Danny Abramowicz. This week’s winner is **David Kirby from Lynn**. Congratulations David! 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 asked how many programs Fr. Roderick has done and how many he's currently doing. Fr. Roderick said on the weekends he's busy celebrating Mass at all his parishes. During the week, he has three different jobs in media. In addition to the podcasting, he has a television show on Catholic life in the Netherlands and a radio show, both in Dutch. On the other days, he does his podcasts, including the Break, in which he talks about anything he's passionate about, including movies, TV, computers, and more. He produces two Tolkien-based shows, including the Secrets of Middle-Earth where he talks with co-hosts about the writing of Tolkien while they "walk" around in the online game about Middle-Earth. He also has a show about the production of the two movies about the Hobbit called Secrets of the Hobbit. He also does a show about an online game called Farmville, where they talk about any Christian themes that come about as they also talk about the game itself. They start with something that's popular in modern culture, and do the show with faithful Catholics, and by an invisible process that Catholic identity comes across. They build a friendship with the audience, which is the cornerstone of evangelization. If you trust someone, you trust the faith and ideals of someone. He does a show called Health and Holiness, combining the topic of becoming fit physically and spiritually. It started when he started training to run a marathon. the Catholic approach to health concerns all aspects of life, including the spiritual. We're called to become saints, so the show is a progress report on the work to become a saint. Fr. Matt asked how priests and parishes could better utilize new media to reach out and better evangelize their communities. Fr. Roderick said it's the same advice Pope Benedict gave when he encouraged priests not to think of new media as something not for them. We need to give a heart and a soul to the Internet. You don't have to force yourself to learn all kinds of technology that aren't you. The moist important thing is to be out in the social networks as a priest in a personal way to help people, to be with them, and to share their life with the people. He's found his own parishioners who might be old and not tech-savvy and they connect with the personal life he shares with them. Young people are looking for models of identification. They need to see the personal face of the Church in the priest and if they see a priest concerned.

**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O'Connor **Today's guest(s):** Fr. Edward Riley, Director of Pastoral Formation and Dean of Men at St. John Seminary * [St. John Seminary](http://www.sjs.edu) * [World Apostolate of Fatima](http://www.wafusa.org/) * [Home School Ministry of the Archdiocese](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/HomeSchoolMinistry.aspx) **Today's topics:** Fr. Ed Riley's vocation story and ministry to the seminarians of the Archdiocese and many more **Summary of today's show:** Fr. Ed Riley shared with Scot and Fr. Chris how his path to the priesthood took him through Appalachia, and what his various duties entail, including Dean of Men and Director of Pastoral Formation at St. John Seminary and the Master of Arts in Ministry and Cardinal Seán's liaison to home schooling families **1st segment:** Scot welcomes Fr. Chris back to the show. Fr. Chris went to Omaha this week to the Institute for Priestly Formation. There are now 175 seminarians spending 10 weeks in Omaha, where's not much to do but pray and reflect. There are 7 or 8 men from Boston there. Fr. Chris mentioned the terrible Midwestern flooding affecting the area. They studied all four pillars of formation: spiritual, intellectual, pastoral, and human. Cardinal Sean is very keen on this program because it integrates the four pillars. The men come back excited that they learned to pray with Ignatian spirituality, which is helpful for diocesan priests who are active in the world, as well as the camaraderie with the 175 men from all over the United States. He's also hoping to welcome 21 new men to the seminary this fall. It looks great for the seminary and the archdiocese. Scot wanted to go back to "praying like St. Ignatius". Fr. Chris said it's going deeper with the Scripture, taking a passage, praying with it, reflecting on it, imagining yourself in the scene, and then asking what the Lord is saying to you. In the seminary they are so busy, that it was great to be able to share time with the seminarians one on one in Omaha. Fr. Ed Riley is on the program today, and he is the Dean of Men. His job is to "crack the whip" and make sure the men are doing what they should be doing when they should be doing it and being "bad cop" to Fr. Chris' "good cop." **2nd segment:** Scot and Fr. Chris welcome Fr. Ed. Scot asked him how he first experienced God's calling to the priesthood. He didn't hear until his late 20s, when he was living in Kentucky, working with a diocesan priest establishing the Christian Appalachian Project. He witnessed his life as a priest, his desire to serve, his love for the people. That was Fr. Ed's encouragement. In hindsight, he realizes the Lord had been calling him for a long time. After college, Fr. Ed was an accountant at a top five firm. He graduated from Boston College in 1984, he worked for Arthur Anderson. He had great opportunities for a career, but after 6 years, he realized something was missing, that there should be something more. He went to the parochial vicar at his own parish at St. John's, Wellesley, Fr. Joe Driscoll, and asked him about it. Fr. Driscoll told him to pray actively and to listen, and then he said he should try to hear the voice of the Lord. He felt the Lord calling him to work with young people so he went to work in Franciscan Children's Hospital. In the late 1980s, he was laid off from his job and so he became more involved at Franciscan Children's Hospital as a full-time volunteer. He says he never knew how many Catholics worked at his firm until he was leaving although he had worked with them for years. A lot of them were active Catholics in their parishes, but it never came up until he was leaving and it came up that he was going to be a volunteer. After a year, he felt his call was to help disabled adults get into the workforce. This was at the time that the Americans with Disability Act was coming into force. He decided to spend some time away and then come back and work for disabled adults. His sister went to Kentucky on spring break and so he decided to spend three weeks in Appalachia helping out. But then he stayed for six weeks because so much was going on there. On the last weekend of his trip, he met the founder of the Christian Appalachian Project who asked him if he was going to stay for a year-long commitment. He came back to Boston, but then he felt called to go back to Kentucky and so he went back to work directly for this priest for three years, starting up local Catholic communities. Father was encouraging to him to enter the priesthood, but Fr. Ed felt called to stay. But it was on the last year of his volunteer work that he really felt the call to return to Boston for the priesthood. Fr. Chris said we often think of the missions as being in a faraway place, but Fr. Ed worked in Kentucky. Western Kentucky is very Catholic. One of the first five dioceses in the US was Bardstown, which is now Louisville. The 50 counties of Eastern Kentucky in the Appalachian foothills are very poor. One-third of 1 percent are Catholic in Eastern Kentucky. There are more Catholics in India and Pakistan as a percentage. There are many Christians there, but they don't have the Church. The total square mile of the parish of the priest he knows in Eastern Kentucky is 800 square miles. One of his previous parishes was the size of the state of Rhode Island. **3rd segment:** Fr. Ed was ordained on May 27, 2000. He was assigned to St. Catherine of Siena in Norwood, one of the largest and most active in Boston. There is something special about your first parish, but it's a wonderful parish of faith-filled families and a parochial school. He arrived there at the same time with two other priests: the pastor, Msgr. Cornelius McRae, Fr. John Currie, and Fr. Ed. They had a wonderful experience. Every day they could, they prayed morning prayer together. They found the town of Norwood to be very open to the life of the Church and worked well with the parish. His next assignment was in 2005 and was assigned to Immaculate Conception in Weymouth, another large parish. He had asked to be assigned wherever he was needed. He was there for two years in Weymouth, where there were five parishes and three elementary schools. Then he was assigned to St. Joseph, Holbrook, as pastor. There's a big difference between being a parochial vicar and pastor. It's much smaller than Norwood, but still very good faith-filled families. They have an elementary school and he loved being part of the school when he was there. He got the call to St. John's Seminary after two years. He had thought that he would be at St. Joseph's for at least 6 years and perhaps a second-year term. It was a harder transition. He remembers praying the day before he got the call that he prayed to turn over His entire life to God, whatever he wants. Fr. Ed said the people make you the priest you become. Parishioners deserve a lot of the credit for helping priests becoming who they are. His work in the parish helps him now as he works with seminarians preparing them. His primary responsibility is to assign seminarians for their pastoral assignments and to help them, along with their on-site supervisor, to help them grow. The men share their work with him and he encourages them. What he loves most about being a priest is being able to celebrate the sacraments. This last weekend, he helped out at St. Paul Parish in Hamilton and it was a joy and privilege. He loved the celebrations to experience family, community, and grace coming together. **4th segment:** Fr Ed is also the Dean of Men. It's like the Dean of Students at a university. He works with the men on day to day functions. He coordinates illness and absences. There's a lot of scheduling items for the whole community. He sees it as a role like being a father to them. He equates it to what his brothers do for their families or provincials do for their religious communities. He helps them work around some of the snags. When a seminarian has an issue, Fr. Ed is the first call he makes. Sometimes it's Fr. Ed making the call to the seminarian. It's an opportunity for growth. Fr. Chris said when men have gone to the hospital, Fr. Ed is the man on the scene. The Dean of Men is about having a well-functioning house. Anytime 100 men live under one roof, there will always be issues. He looks out for the common good. As Formation Director of Pastoral Ministries, he starts the year by meeting the men, finding out their skills, what they like, and where they need growth. Then he looks at apostolates where they can be assigned: parishes, nursing homes, prisons, and other ministries. He follows up with their on-site supervisors. The supervisors meet with the men to make sure they are integrating their experiences: what are they learning, how did that touch their spiritual life? Fr. Ed's work is to help them see their own personal growth toward ordination. About 50 percent of the pastoral assignments are in parishes. The men have pastoral assignments for five of the six summers they are at the seminary. Most of the men in the early years are familiar with the parish setting when they come in so they get assigned to the institutional settings to give them more experiences. When they are in their later assignments, they get parish assignments. Near the end of the seminary, they get two years in one parish to give them more time to experience the life of the parish. During the school year, they spend their weekends in the parish. The men are evaluated twice per year on their pastoral assignments. Those evaluations by the supervisors are used in the overall evaluation of the seminarians toward ordination. You can see a lot of gifts and talents in their pastoral assignments that you wouldn't see inside the seminary walls. Fr. Chris said that at ordination Cardinal Seán asks the seminary rector if they have inquired among the people whether the determine these men worthy. That's where these evaluations come in. Fr. Ed said he gives credit to a lot of the seminarians for their willingness to experience these opportunities for growth. Many of them came to the seminary after having been accomplished in life and now they place themselves often in a more subservient position than they were used to. **5th segment:** In addition to his other roles, Fr. Ed is also Cardinal Seán's representative to Catholic homeschoolers, is involved with the World Apostolate for Fatima, works with the Master in Ministry program. He also works with the Master's in Ministry program, helping lay students with their pastoral formation, which is two years of field education. They are assigned by their choice to a ministry and he works with them and their supervisor. They work 4-5 hours per work in these assignments. It's different because he's not choosing the assignments, but he does have to approve it as engaging their intellectual, spiritual, pastoral and human formation. As spiritual director to homeschooling families, he is the contact for families who need help from the Archdiocese and he gives support to them. There are literally thousands of families in the Archdiocese that homeschool. He finds a lot of the families are very faith-filled. they integrate faith into regular academics. He works with a couple of communities of homeschooling for holy hours once per month. For someone who wants to find out more about the homeschooling, go to [BostonCatholic.org](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/HomeSchoolMinistry.aspx) and connect with Fr. Ed. He's also the uncle to 30 nieces and nephews under the age of 15. They complement his ability to be a better priest. It means a lot to have brothers and sisters who are raising their children in the faith. His father also inspires him in his faith.

**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry **Today's guest(s):** Father Paul O'Brien, Pastor of St. Patrick Parish, Lawrence * [St. Patrick Parish, Lawrence](http://www.saintpatrickparish.com) * [Cor Unum](http://www.corunummealcenter.org/) * [Labels Are For Jars](http://www.labelsareforjars.org/index.html ) * [Lawrence Catholic Academy](http://www.lawrencecatholicacademy.org/) * ["Scenes from A Parish" PBS documentary](http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/scenes-from-a-parish/film.html) **Today's topics:** The work of Fr. Paul O'Brien in one of the poorest city in Massachusetts **Summary of today's show:** Fr. Paul O'Brien joins Scot Landry to discuss the work of the Church in Lawrence, the poorest city in Massachusetts, providing innovative and successful answers to the problems plaguing the community, including the Cor Unum Meal Center, the Labels Are For Jars program, and Lawrence Catholic Academy. **1st segment:** Scot said Cardinal Seán in his pastoral letter this month praised the Church in Boston for how she does the corporal works of mercy and encouraged the Church to do better at the spiritual works of mercy. Scot said St. Patrick Parish in Lawrence is one of the best examples. He welcomed Fr. Paul O'Brien, pastor for the parish, to the show. Scot noted that Fr. Paul was ordained in 1991, 20 years ago last week. Fr. Paul said he experienced the call to the priesthood out of the blue at a Mass during his freshman year in college. He believes God had been calling him, but he wasn't paying attention. He heard the call specifically to the diocesan priesthood, despite he had grown up in a Jesuit parish. Starting from that Mass, for the next couple of years, the feeling didn't go away and he knew it was a real call. By the end of college, he decided to enter seminary to discern. He went to St. John's Seminary for one year of pre-theology and then to the Pontifical North American College for five years in Rome. Fr. Paul said he received a good education in theology and philosophy. The formation program allowed him to serve in Rome and then in different parts of the world during the long summer breaks. He did in-depth pastoral work in different settings. He worked in Calcutta with Mother Teresa, in Hungary with her sisters, and in East Germany. He was able to visit many other places and understood how God's kingdom unfolds in places than Boston. Mother Teresa's view of the world has affected his priesthood very profoundly. She knew him and his limitations very well, and Fr. Paul said she helped him to break through selfishness and see people the way Christ sees them. Fr. Paul attended Mt Alvernia Academy in Chestnut Hill, which was the best Catholic education. He attended public and secular schools from then. That education was the formational foundation for his early life. Fr. Paul said his call was unusual compared to his peers in seminary. He believes they had better skills at listening to God in prayer, as opposed to talking at God. He has a Scripture-based spirituality, which allows him to reflect on the Word of God and sit in his presence, to ask Him what He is saying to Him. He does hear God speaking to him about himself and the world through Scripture. **2nd segment:** Fr. Paul said his first assignment was in Concord, Mass., at St. Bernard's Parish. He was Secretary for Pastoral Services of the Archdiocese for 3 years in 1996 and administrator of St. Lawrence Parish in Chestnut Hill. He also lived at St. James in Chinatown. He became Pastor at St. Patrick in Lawrence 10 years ago. When at the Archdiocese he also planned Pilgrimage 2000 in the year 2000, which began with an event at Foxboro Stadium and ended with an event at Fenway Park. His current assignment is in Lawrence, the economically poorest community in Massachusetts. It's 70% Hispanic. About 75% of children are born to women who are not married. The average per capita income is $16,000 and a third of people live below the poverty line. About 80% speak a language other than English at home. More than 50% were born outside the United States. Lawrence also has a high cost of housing so much of their money is going to pay for a home. When he arrived at St. Patrick's they had a large food pantry run by the St. Vincent de Paul. They delivered bags of families to hundreds of people per month. He said people may be working two or three jobs, but don't make enough to pay for housing, utilities, and food. About 75% of kids are at risk for hunger, which means that they don't necessarily know where the next meal is coming from. When it comes to a choice between housing, heat, and food, the food is the first thing that goes. People spend their money on cheap, non-nutritious food so they have the highest rate of obese and overweight kids. He decided to attack hunger in a different way. People from the parish had put together a Thanksgiving lunch for some homeless people living in the neighborhood's streets. They wanted to figure out a way to feed them every day with nutritious and adequate food. They believed their must be a way to find enough food in this country to feed these people. It's harder to solve the breakdown of the family, violence in the city, or bad education than it is to feed them. If people are hungry, how can you solve the weightier problems. They approached everyone working on the problem of hunger in Lawrence and learned that everyone thought much had to be done than was being done by all the various charitable groups. They decided that they could only approach the solution by building a dedicated building for a permanent space to feed people every day. Because they had no money, they planned what they would do if money was no object. They planned to serve the best restaurant-quality meals, they would serve the meals, they would have a beautiful atmosphere, there would be nice music playing. They ended up with all of that plus a mammoth kitchen to serve as many meals as needed. When you don't have enough food, it's a spiritually demeaning reality. They want to provide an experience that uplifts their dignity. Their philosophy has been that people who have the least should have the very best in every way in every form of love. They had remarkable success with planning and fundraising. When they would sit down with people and communicate the reality of Lawrence's hunger and then show their solution, a high percentage of people would say, "How can we help?" Within two years they raised almost $1million. From that Thanksgiving dinner to the opening of Cor Unum was five years, but it seems to be very quick. **3rd segment:** Cor Unum has served more than 775,000 people since September 2006. They serve breakfast and dinner 365 days per year. They serve more than 200,000 meals per year. They have partnerships with the Greater Boston Food Banks as well as wholesale and retail food distributors who give them their excess at little or no cost. They spend about $25,000 per year on food to produce 200,000 meals, about a dime per meal. They have one paid employee and rely on volunteers for everything else. The total budget was $215,000 last year, about $1 per meal. It shows that there's no excuse for hunger in this country. They have about 600 regular volunteers and thousands who come through in a one-shot experience. They need a couple dozen per day. They need servers, buspeople, food servers, and cooks. There is something for everyone in the family to do. Summer is their busiest season because all the kids who rely on public school meals for their primary nutrition through the year aren't getting them. Plus volunteers take vacation, so they have the highest number of meals served and the least number of volunteers. They are looking for summer volunteers to just come in with no orientation needed. Call 978-688-8900 or go to the website. The dining room seats 80 or 90 at a time and the seating operates just like a restaurant. After the meal, they give them food to take with them as a takeout. They found if you serve a robust breakfast and dinner and give them something to take with them, that suffices and allows them to prepare for dinner in the middle of the day. Some people rely on them every day, including the disabled, senior citizens, addicts. Most of their people are working folks so they get more people at the beginning and end of the month. As people get to the end of each paycheck, they come in for meals. They also see families who will be there for a while, get on their feet, get in trouble again and come back. Cor Unum provides a safety net. Cor Unum means "one heart." It's a predominantly Spanish speaking neighborhood. If they had used a Spanish name, there is residual reacism in the community. So they chose Latin as a neutral ground. The one heart shows that they are one in Christ. One way that Cor Unum is funded is the Labels are For Jars program. It's a non-profit organization that Fr. Paul started. The aim was to raise money from outside Lawrence. They designed t-shirts with images of labels on jelly jars with labels that are looked-down upon. They say things like addict, ex-con, etc. The shirts allow people to start a conversation. The shirts come in a collection jar which is intended to allow you to collect money. A filled jar should be about $100. They expanded to hats and baseball shirts with Red Sox players' names on them. They've made $3 million in profit since 2004. The biggest jar return they've had is $300,000. Some jars had $5,000. It covers most of the operating expenses of Cor Unum. They've set up a network through the US of people working very actively to fund Cor Unum. People have started to come to them during the recession, because they want to help people who are hurting. It is predominantly youth oriented. They find that kids communicate good things like this to adults very actively. **4th segment:** Lawrence Catholic Academy was formed one year ago through the merger of St. Patrick's School and Our Lady of Good Counsel's school in Methuen. Fr. Paul said they should have done this a decade ago. Rather than see Catholic education decline, they've seen it grow. Our Lady of Good Counsel was going to close because there weren't enough students. They decided to stop the closing and be ambitious about Catholic education in Lawrence. It has a nursery school through Grade 8 and they hope to make it the best predominantly Spanish-speaking school in America. The school has a greater enrollment than the two previous schools combined and all of their grade levels are full. They have been able to re-hire all of the old faculty. They've taken steps ahead in curriculum. They also have a very talented board helping them move the school ahead. They have every reason to hope that they will solve all of the big problems that they recognized. Fr. Paul said if you are not shooting for the very best, how can you expect positive results. It's very important for it be as rigorously Catholic as possible. The previous schools had high Catholic identity. They have more women religious teaching in the school than any school in the archdiocese. They still face the challenges of any community where there is not enough Catholic practice in families. This year, 46% of the kids in the school are Hispanic and about 40% are Anglo. That mirrors the makeup of South Lawrence. None of the curriculum is taught in Spanish. Their kids learn English with no problems if they start at nursery school even if they only speak Spanish at home. It's much harder by the time they get to middle school and don't have good language skills. Fr. Paul said Catholic schools are not allowed to take the MCAS standardized tests because it would allow them to compare academic achievement directly with public schools. From an academic standpoint, 100% of middle school students graduate to high school. Many attend the very best private schools in the Merrimac Valley. For those who attend vocation schools, they get the best eduction to prepare them. Fr. Paul says Lawrence public schools have the highest drop-out levels. It's not a problem with the teachers and they have the best facilities funded by the state. But the public schools cannot battle with the inner-city gang culture. A Catholic school has a God-centered culture that embraces the whole family, and is based on God's truth and not opinion. A public school teacher says it's important for the kid to succeed in life, the kid will respond that it's her opinion. In the Catholic school, they would be told it's God's opinion and He wants the very best of their life. The culture led by God leads to a successful academic experience. Lawrence has 4-times the teen pregnancy rate of the state average. The Catholic school's pregnancy rate has been zero. That's a concrete example of the life choices the kids make day-by-day, and how they make very different choices. Scot said listeners should experience Cor Unum and it will make them proud to be a Catholic in Massachusetts. He encouraged everyone to sign up to volunteer.

**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O'Connell **Today's guest(s):** Fr. Daniel Hennessey, Director of the Office of Vocations for the Archdiocese of Boston * [Office of Vocations](http://www.vocationsboston.org) **Today's topics:** Fr. Dan Hennessey and the work of the Vocations Office; Feast of Corpus Christi Mass readings **Summary of today's show:** Scot and Fr. Mark talk with Fr. Dan Hennessey about his call to the priesthood, his work as director of vocations, what it was like to be ordained at the height of the sex-abuse scandal, and the incredible number of men entering seminary in the fall. Also, a discussion of the Mass readings for the Solemnity of Corpus Christi on Sunday. **1st segment:** Scot welcomed Fr. Mark back to the show. Fr. Mark said he's been running all week so it's good to have this time to pause and talk about bigger issues. There's lots happening at the Tribunal, trying to conclude the fiscal year on June 30. There have been many meetings including Archdiocesan Pastoral Council, Presbyteral Council, the Cardinal's Cabinet, and there's been very good attendance. Today, there's another priest of the archdiocese to talk about his call to the priesthood and his ministry. **2nd segment:** Scot and Fr. Mark welcome Fr. Dan to the show. Fr. Dan was one of the first broadcasts of The Good Catholic Life and he there wasn't enough time to talk about his journey to the priesthood. He grew up in Andover and went to St. Michael Parish in North Andover. He went o Central Catholic high school in Lawrence. He went to Merrimac College for a couple of years, but left halfway through to figure out what he wanted to do. He eventually went back and got a degree in biochemistry. He worked for a year and then entered St. John's Seminary. Scot asked him when he first experienced a call to the priesthood. Fr. Dan said it wasn't until high school or college that he realized that he'd been thinking about since he was a young boy. He clearly recalls the first time he thought about it during a First Friday Mass in the 3rd grade. Fr. Mark asked where were the angels from on high telling him what to do. Fr. Dan said obviously it doesn't happen in most circumstances. The majority of the men in seminary go in and are not sure God is calling them. They think God may be calling and go in to discern whether that is true. Fr. Dan didn't become convinced that it was his vocation until the second or third year in the seminary. He said he didn't have any particular priest as a role model. It was his parents' example in their love for the Eucharist and the sacraments and their teaching him to listen to God calling him. As he was discerning entering the seminary after college, he did have a couple of priests who did give him good guidance. One encouraged him to pray as the most important step. Scot noted that Augustinians served in his high school and college. Did Fr. Dan always know he would enter the diocesan priesthood or did he consider the religious life? He said he didn't understand the distinctions at the time and so he just went to a parish priest who directed him to the vocations director for the Archdiocese. Fr. Mark pointed out that while they planned to be parish priests as diocesan priests, they are not in parishes. Fr. Dan said he still gets to be in parishes very often, which is a blessing. Fr. Dan was ordained May 25, 2002, just as the scandal broke. Fr. Dan said it was interesting to be ordained that year. It required the men in seminary and being newly ordained to reiterate that they have a true appreciation for the priesthood. He was also struck by the idea of the priest as an instrument of healing and reconciliation. Before his present assignment, he was at St. Bridget's in South Boston. About three months after that, he also gained the responsibility for FGate of Heaven in South Boston. He was there for two years and moved to the Vocations' Office half-time. The next year he went to the Vocations Office full-time. Scot asked what it's like to be a priest in South Boston, a very Irish area. Scot noted that St. Bridget's and Gate of Heaven are beautiful churches. Fr. Dan said it was a beautiful experience. Having grown up north of Boston, being in South Boston seemed so far away but felt at home. The people were very welcoming to him. The churches themselves are very beautiful. He also loved celebrating Mass with the schoolkids and loved spending time in the schools with the kids. **3rd segment:** Scot asked Fr. Dan how he reacted when he was asked by Cardinal Seán to begin his ministry in the vocations office. He immediately thought he needed to pray for the grace to do this ministry. As soon as he became vocations director, being Irish and Catholic, he felt personally responsible for the vocations crisis in the archdiocese. Once he calmed down, he realized that vocations is something that everyone in the archdiocese needs to be encouraging. Fr. Mark asked if he felt responsible for numbers. Fr. Dan said that at first, yes, he was concerned, but only until people warned him against playing the numbers game. He needs to find the men that are being called and leave that up to God. However, whenever he meets with priests, one of the first questions they ask is how many guys we have. We have to pray that the men who are being called will respond generously to the call from God. Scot asks Fr. Dan how he knows he's doing a good job; having a good year. The way he measures his work is the sense that the men who are applying and entering are ready for formation and to discern. Many priests have friends who were in the seminary, but left. The purpose of the seminary is not just to pump out priests, as much as allowing the men to discern whether they are being called. Fr. Mark pointed out that you don't have to be perfect to go to the seminary. Fr. Mark asked where is the best place to find men and what age of men. At one time, it was Catholic high schools exclusively. Today, most of them men entering the seminary are not in the college seminary--there are just a few today--but the majority are entering after having finished undergraduate schooling and some may even have graduate degrees and worked for a little time. There's a pre-theology program for men who enter the seminary to earn a bachelor's of philosophy to prepare them for formation in theology. Most the men entering now are in the mid-twenties. To find the men God is calling, he goes where a lot of the young faithful Catholic men are, including college campuses. They have an annual retreat for men that has many college-age men. Scot asked what qualities Fr. Dan looks for to determine if this person is ready and is a good candidate to enter the seminary. Fr. Dan said he's looking for good Catholic men, primarily, and among them men who have some indications in their life that they've been called. So they're looking for a man of prayer, of integrity, who's wholesome, has a strong faith, devotion to the Eucharist, devotion to the Virgin Mary, has lived a life of service, worked in the Church in some way, etc. Scot asked how much should the man should be praying? Do they ask them not to have a girlfriend for a certain period of time before entering the seminary? Fr. Dan said all seminarians are expected to be living a life of chaste celibacy. Even the man who's thinking about the priesthood, while it's good for a man to date in general, he should have a period of one to two years where he's not dating at all. The question of the prayer life is a tough one. It's best to look at it as a friendship with Christ that the man is developing. Each person can be at a different stage, but men entering the seminary pray each day; they generally have a devotion to the Blessed Mother; most go to Eucharistic adoration; they encourage them to go to daily Mass. The Eucharist and the priesthood is inseparable so a man considering the priesthood should feel like he's drawn to the altar. How many men are in formation for the priesthood and how can the audience help promote a culture of vocations? This year there have been 58 men studying at various stages, with six having been ordained this year. This coming September, there be somewhere between 15 and 20 new men entering. That should put the Archdiocese somewhere over 70 total. He takes no credit because if tomorrow half of them decide they're not being called, he's not taking the blame. To promote a culture of vocations, people should pray. When we ask, God does answer us. It's the job of parents and grandparents and godparents to help the children to know what desires of them. They should actively encourage young men (and older men too) to ask what God desires, not just what they want. Scot said Catholics shouldn't ask kids, "What do you want to be when you grow up," but instead "What does God want you to be when you grow up". This helps beyond priestly vocations, but helps children think about their relationship with God. Fr. Mark pointed out that parents and grandparents and godparents should also be helping their daughters discern the religious life. **5th segment:** Scot asked Fr. Dan about an even this coming Wed, June 29 at the Cathedral at 7pm: A holy Hour of Eucharistic Adoration to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Pope Benedict's ordination. The US bishops requested that all the diocese in the US do a holy hour or even a 40-hour devotion. The Cathedral is 1400 Washington Street in the South End of Boston. Wednesday is the Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul. It's also Cardinal Seán's birthday. Now, as we do every week, we look forward to this coming sunday's Mass readings to help us prepare to celebrate together. This week if the Feast of Corpus Christi, the Body and Blood of Christ. * [1st Reading for the Solemnity of Corpus Christi (Deuteronomy 8:2-3, 14b-16a)](http://www.usccb.org/nab/062611.shtml#reading1) >Moses said to the people: "Remember how for forty years now the LORD, your God, has directed all your journeying in the desert, so as to test you by affliction and find out whether or not it was your intention to keep his commandments. He therefore let you be afflicted with hunger, and then fed you with manna, a food unknown to you and your fathers, in order to show you that not by bread alone does one live, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of the LORD. > >"Do not forget the LORD, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery; who guided you through the vast and terrible desert with its saraph serpents and scorpions, its parched and waterless ground; who brought forth water for you from the flinty rock and fed you in the desert with manna, a food unknown to your fathers." * [2nd Reading for the Solemnity of Corpus Christi (1 Corinthians 10:16-17)](http://www.usccb.org/nab/062611.shtml#reading2) >Brothers and sisters: The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because the loaf of bread is one, we, though many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf. * [Gospel for the Solemnity of Corpus Christi (John 6:51-58)](http://www.usccb.org/nab/062611.shtml#gospel) >Jesus said to the Jewish crowds: "I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world." > >The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever." Fr. Dan said the first thing that comes to mind is how the Lord still comes to be with us as the Bread of Life at every Mass, The priesthood is a vocation that is indispensable and irreplaceable. As a priest, it's a mystery and beautiful to be a minister at the altar. Scot said as Catholics we want to be as close to Jesus as possible and the way to be closest to Him is in the consuming of the Eucharist. As a husband and wife become one, so too we become one When the Gospel says "eat", the original Greek says Jesus said we were to literally gnaw on His flesh. To literally consumer Him. It was kind of Him to come to us under the appearance of bread and wine. Fr. Mark said this is why the people who hear Jesus don't get it and are turned away by it. But Jesus doesn't explain it; He repeats it over and over. He means what He's saying literally. Scot said transubstantiation means the God keeps the appearance of bread and wine (taste, smell, feel), but changes the substance into the Body and Blood of Jesus. In the Old Testament, it says the Jews were not to consumer the blood of animals, but God gave them the manna in the desert to feed them. God feeds us the new manna of Christ and because it is Blood, it shows that a new era has begun. Fr. Dan notes that Jesus says we will have life. Today, people are looking for life, joy, and happiness. The life that God wants for us is in the Church. When we go to Mass, we receive Him, and He fills us with life. Scot said this is why the show is called The Good Catholic Life because if we follow the Life in the Church, it will be a good happy life. Fr. Mark said the first reading underlines the word "remember" and tells us not to "forget". That's a big theme in the Old Testament that the Lord remembers and the people always forget, which causes their exile. The Eucharist is a memorial that helps all generations of Christians to remember the Paschal mystery as a reality. Bring the moment of paschal mystery to every mont of our life. Scot said statistics show us that there are many Catholics who don't understand or believe that Christ is present in the Eucharist. Scot said part of this is because of the way that we who do believe receive Christ. The way we go up to Communion, the way the priest celebrates Mass can have an impact on how young children appreciate that this is Jesus' Body and Blood. Scot said someone may experience Mass only once and it will be how we receive the Eucharist that influences them into believing. It could be how we approach the Eucharist that influences our children's faith as adults.

**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:** Fr. John Corapi; Cardinal Sean on St. Cecilia's confusion; praying for more local saints; adoration as a remedy **Summary of today's show:** Scot and Susan Abbott talk with Fr. Roger Landry and Gregory Tracy about Cardinal Seán's latest statement on the controversy at St. Cecilia's parish in Boston; Fr. John Corapi's decision to leave active priestly ministry; a call for more devotion to local potential saints; and Pope Benedict's remedy for secularism and idolatry. **1st segment:** Scot welcomes Susan back to the show. This past weekend, Susan was able to spend time with her son, his wife, and their baby who were in town visiting. They're expecting again in October and she'll go out to visit them. She has four children, six grandchildren with one on the way. She's also teaching a course on catechetical methods in West Concord that ends tonight. It's a great group of people, she said. Scot said the end of June is a busy time at the Pastoral Center, with a lot of regular committees meeting for the last over the summer. The Presbyteral Council met today with a discussion of the results of the Catholics Come Home campaign. **2nd segment:**vScot welcomes Fr. Roger and Gregory back to the program. Fr. john Corapi is one of the most recognized priests in the United States. He has decided to end his priestly ministry. Gregory was quite surprised. He first heard about it in Corapi's YouTube video. He expressed a lot of frustration at the investigation of allegations against him would take too long, that certain people in the Church wanted him gone. Scot said it was certainly his decision to stop exercising his priestly ministry. * ["Fr. Corapi announces he's leaving the priesthood," CNA/EWTN News, 6/18/11](http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/fr.-corapi-announces-hes-leaving-the-priesthood/) * ["Order 'saddened' by Father Corapi's decision to leave priesthood," The Pilot, 6/23/11](http://www.pilotcatholicnews.com/article.asp?ID=13476) * ["Fr. Corapi's Bombshell," CNA/EWTN News, 6/20/11](http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/father-corapis-bombshell/) Susan said she knows he has a large ministry and many people credit him for their return to the faith. She was concerned that stories said the process of clearing his name was too sluggish. She knows of other priests under investigation in Boston who have lingered for years while investigations of allegations proceeded. Many waited for years while their innocence was proven. Scot was surprised that Corapi only waited for 3 months before quitting. He was stunned because he too had heard so much about Corapi's influence on people's faith. Fr. Roger said he was saddened and was moved to pray for him. He said that Fr. Corapu is violating many of the pricniples that attracted people to his ministry in the first place, including his strong masculine approach to the Christian life, manning up in difficult circumstances. When the going's getting tough, he's leaving the greatest gift that he has. The Father Corapi that so many people know would never have given up his vocation. It's a sure sign of spiritual desolation. He said that priests under investigation often don't want to get back just their name, but also to be able to minister with their people with the sacraments. Fr. Corapi said that this part of his priesthood was only 10 percent of his ministry in recent years, which is already a sign of problems. It's akin to a husband in a divorce saying that because it's taking too long, he's abandoning his kids. Scot said Corapi's superiors in the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity had said that they asked him to return to live with them in community. Corapi has lived alone in Montana, far from the community in Texas. Scot noted that Cardinal Seán says that discipleship is lived in community. Even diocesan priests have other priests that they surround themselves with. If you don't have close peers surrounding you, able to correct your destructive decisions, then you are in danger of throwing away all that Fr. Corapi has. Gregory said the quickness of the decision makes one wonder whether the loss of public affirmation that he might have become used to played a part as well as the financial loss of the sales of books and tapes for his ministry. Scot said he started to see his primary ministry wasn't the sacraments, but his public preaching and teaching. Fr. Roger pointed out that there's a difference between public teaching and priestly preaching. Priestly preaching is intimately connected with the Liturgy of the Word. Part of what made Corapi's speaking so powerful were the black clerical clothes he wore that showed him as an "alter Christus" (another Christ). He hopes that the collective power of all our prayers, together with the Holy Spirit, will bring him back from the precipice. Scot said [he interviewed Corapi](http://www.pilotcatholicnews.com/article.asp?ID=12973) just weeks before he was put on leave in the Pilot in preparation for a then-planned conference in Boston. He found him extremely articulate on the Gospel. He was a great friend to the Station of the Cross, donating his speaking at conferences in 2009 and the planned conference this year. **3rd segment:** Cardinal Seán published a statement in this week's Pilot about the recent events in St. Cecilia's Church in Boston. * Cardinal Seán P. O'Malley issued the following statement June 22, in response to recent events at St. Cecilia Church in Boston. >The philosophical and political agenda of Gay Pride in relation to marriage and sexual morality is incompatible with the Church's teachings. For that reason, Father Unni rescheduled a Mass of welcome for all his parishioners to a time that would not associate the Mass with the Gay Pride agenda. >I realize that Catholics who have same-sex attractions are often criticized by their friends for coming to Mass and that the parents and friends of homosexual members of our Church are distressed that their loved ones feel rejected by their Church. We want all baptized Catholics to come to Mass and be part of our community, but we cannot compromise the teaching of the Church rooted in Scripture and tradition. >We hope that all Catholics will come to experience the love of Christ in our community and that in that love they will find the courage and strength to embrace the cross that is part of the life of discipleship. >It is regrettable that there has been so much confusion about this matter. I hope the [statement on my blog of last week](http://www.cardinalseansblog.org/2011/06/17/stanley-cup-champions/) and [The Pilot editorial](http://www.pilotcatholicnews.com/article.asp?ID=13449) "A teachable moment" will help people to understand the Church's teaching. We must be a community that reflects both the love and the truth of the Gospel. Gregory said the Cardinal here is trying to underscore the Church's teaching on the love for all people, while not everything they do may be acceptable. His impression is that the Cardinal is hoping to dispel the confusion that continues to swirl around this issue. Scot said the request of the archdiocese was always to postpone the Mass so it wouldn't be confused with the Gay Pride events in June. The Mass is open to all, but is extended in a particular way to people with same-sex attraction. That isn't undermining the Church's teaching because all are called to return to Christ, with all their burdens. Scot said his last sentence brings the Catholic community together. There is a sense out there that if we're truly a welcoming Church, shouldn't we welcome everyone, almost with no standards; while others are saying we have to preach the Catechism strongly. Fr. Roger said love and truth always go together. In order for charity to be loving, it must be grounded in the truth. We can't just be grounded in sentiment and efforts not to offend people. Fr. Roger said one of the concerns of critics of the Mass was that excerpts from Fr. Unni's preaching didn't seem to be adhering to the fullness of the Gospel. He encouraged Fr. Unni to clarify his preaching. The impression for some people is that the gay idea of sexuality is being celebrated as opposed to sacrifice of the Mass. * ["Bishops urged to fight war of words to defend traditional marriage," The Pilot/CNS, 6/21/11](http://www.pilotcatholicnews.com/article.asp?ID=13472) Scot said at the recent US bishops' meeting in Seattle, there was a discussion of the use of language when defending marriage. Bishop Salvatore Cordileone said the words "human rights" and "hate" are being misused, that there's a manipulation of language. >"To be considered and labeled a 'bigot' or 'discriminator' by the government and by law has serious implications for the religious liberty of both institutions and individuals and their freedom of conscience," he said. "The video will seek to demythologize popular claims and call attention to what is really at stake." He also said there is an attempt to make it seem that same-sex marriage is inevitable. >"The good news is often undermined or covered over, but the facts remain," he said. "The myth of the inevitability of same-sex 'marriage' remains just that -- a myth." Fr. Roger said Bishop Cordileone is a real leader in the movement to defend marriage. He's very positive about culture and clear in his teaching. He's very strong in noting that in 31 of the 32 places where people have been allowed to vote about changing the definition of marriage, it has been roundly defeated. The only way it has passed is either by elites in the judicial system or elites in the legislatures who are heavily lobbied by special interests. There is a conspiracy between some of the media, the gay lobby, and other proponents of gay marriage. Susan said words are important. She recently went to an exhibit on eugenics experiments in Nazi Europe and it was clear to her how words were used to advance horrific things. She also said the Church has to find better ways to get her message out, without relying on the mainstream media. Gregory said in Massachusetts we've had a front-row seat to this issue. The gay rights lobby has been effective in using this language of human rights. He recalls Dwight Duncan gave an interview during the marriage debate in Massachusetts. He said marriage by itself is not a right. The state can restrict marriage, for example between siblings. The state doesn't care if people love each other. The state intervenes in this issue because it has an interest in the stability of marriage for the sake of family and a stable society. Civil marriage gives an incentive to families to raise the next generation in a beneficial manner. **4th segment:** In both the Pilot and the Anchor this week is a syndicated column by Dwight Duncan, an attorney and professor, saying that there needs to be local saints, citing recent news about local causes for canonization. * [Holy Cross Family Ministries](http://www.hcfm.org/) * [Fr. Peyton's cause for canonization](http://www.hcfm.org/en/FatherPeyton/CauseforSainthood.aspx) * ["Cause of canonization opens for Opus Dei priest," The Pilot, 6/10/11](http://www.pilotcatholicnews.com/article.asp?ID=13423) Duncan notes a number of local people with reputations for holiness and encourages people to pray to them for any needs in hopes of a miracle that would advance a cause. He ends his column by saying that we can learn from them and if we obtain a miracle we gain, but they are also highlighted as witnesses to Christ. Fr. Roger said only God can work miracles, but as we see in the Acts of the Apostles, He often does it through human agency. Sometimes while they are alive, but if God grants a miracle through praying to someone who is died, we take it as a sign from God that He wants other people to pray to that person and that He is lifting them up as an example to emulate. Fr. Roger notes that in Italy he remembers the thousands of saints, which contrasts with our small number. He also notes that we live in a celebrity culture, and our saints are the ultimate celebrities. They are the ones we should make our heroes and role models in the eternal hall of fame. It's a sign that holiness is possible in Massachusetts and miracles can happen in Massachusetts. Susan said she is quite devoted to Fr. Peyton, whose cause is moving forward, partly because of his promotion of the rosary. He also founded the Family Theater Productions back in 1947 and she has used many of the productions for teens. The article notes the completion of the local investigation of his cause. Moving on to other topics, Gregory noted that the annual hiatus of the Pilot for the next two weeks. While the paper is not printing, the offices will be open. They are not going on vacation, but instead as a small organization they need some time to catch up on important tasks like computer upgrades and other work that can't take place. They don't have much downtime otherwise. He also mentioned a recent story about a graduate from a local Catholic student who will serve as national leader for Students Against Destructive Decisions. Fr. Roger's editorial this week also talks about Pope Benedict's radical remedy against secularism and idolatry: Adoration. Not just once in a while, but a life that adores the Lord in practical existence. If we recognize that Jesus is truly in the Eucharist and He is in a church nearby us, and all we do to respond to the King of Kings presence is to see him for an hour on Sunday, that's living practically as if He's not present in our life. Thirty years ago, Pope Benedict described Corpus Christi processions in his hometown and how all the families would decorate all their houses and the road. The entire military arsenal in the town was brought out and fired into the air. His father explained to him that such displays are made for a head of state and Jesus Christ is the ultimate head of state. Fr. Roger said if you'd make the effort to see the President of the United States, then make the effort to go out to visit Christ in a Eucharistic procession. * [Holy Hour in honor of Pope Benedict XVI's 60th anniversary of ordination](http://vocationsboston.org/NewsDetails.aspx?ID=94)

**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams **Today's guest(s):** Fr. Chip Hines, Pastor of St. Mary Parish, Wrentham, and co-host of CatholicTV's "Spotlight" * [St. Thomas More](http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14689c.htm) * [St. John Fisher](http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08462b.htm) **Today's topics:** St. Thomas More and St. John Fisher **Summary of today's show:** Scot, Fr. Matt, and Fr. Chip Hines commemorate the feast day of St. Thomas More and St. John Fisher by discussing their martyrdom, especially in light of the movie of More's life, "A Man for All Seasons." They also discuss how More shows Catholics today how to be authentic witness with regard to politics and public life. **1st segment:** Scot welcomes Fr. Matt back to the show. Fr. Matt is preparing a young adult retreat this weekend at St. Thecla's in Billerica called "Life is Good in the Holy Spirit." The young adults always come back strengthened in their faith. There are specific talks that build up to praying for the release of the Holy Spirit in a new way in their life. They also have Adoration, Mass, Confession, small group discussion, and plenty of fellowship. There are about 12 different team members running the weekend. On today's show, this is the feast of St. Thomas More and St. John Fisher, Catholics who were beheaded for standing up for the Catholic faith against King Henry VIII, who was leading the Church of England away from the Church. Thomas More is one of Scot's favorite saints. Fr. Matt said they help us to understand what it's like to live as a Catholic in this world. Scot said the 1966 movie "A Man for All Seasons" is a good way to enter into the life of St. Thomas More. **2nd segment:** Scot welcomes Fr. Chip back to the show. He's been very busy at St. Mary in Wrentham with preparations for parish activities throughout the summer. With regard to the movie "A Man for All Seasons", Fr. Chip said that it's in his top-five movies of all time. It's a classic and there's nothing bad you can say about this movie. It's engaging with great performances. Scot said St. Thomas More was being pressured by King Henry VIII to accede to his wishes, to say that he was the supreme head of the church in England, and not the Pope. Many other leaders in England knuckled under to the pressure, but St. Thomas More resisted because of his faith. He is a model of courage under adversity. Fr. Chip said if you want to show this value to somebody, this movie is a perfect example. Thomas More did not waver in the end. Fr. Chip said he did not become heroic overnight, but throughout his whole life, while this movie gives a snippet of that. It's a great image of what it means to be a Catholic in public life.. The movie starts a few years before he became chancellor of England. He was a tremendous intellect and a lawyer. Fr. Matt said he loved his family and was a devoted father. He was deeply faith-filled and wasn't afraid to let that affect his professional life. He was a judge who had a reputation for efficiency in adjudicating cases. Fr. Chip said he was known for his honesty as well. He couldn't be bribed. Leading a heroic Catholic life, you need to be true to yourself and your faith and to God. He was a prolific writer as well. Fr. Chip said being a good father figure was important to him. He even insisted that his daughters receive a good classical education. He was born in 1477 and died on July 6, 1535, beheaded at the order of King Henry VIII. St. John Fisher was martyred on June 22, 1535. He was a bishop, the only one who did not sign the oath that King Henry VIII was demanding. They were beatified on the same day and canonized on the same day. They are heroes for standing up for their faith in the face of intense pressure. **3rd segment:** Scot said "A Man for All Seasons" was one of the first movies on virtue and courage he'd seen. Fr. Chip said the movie opens with a scene of a message being brought to St. Thomas More. It's beautifully filmed so the viewer feels like they're on the river. It sets the scene for what's coming up. When you think about our lives today with instant communication, this was like the instant message of the 14th century. Fr. Chip said it's a fun movie as well as having a great message. It won Best Movie and Best Actor at the Oscars in 1966. In this first scene, Thomas More is asked to visit with Cardinal Wolsey, the chancellor of England at the time. Wolsey wanted to ask More how he can help the king have an heir. The king had already had a dispensation from the Pope to marry his cousin, but she did not produce a son so he wanted to divorce her to marry another woman. The cardinal was presented with the problem of trying to satisfy the king's demand which was in conflict with Church teaching. Thomas More was clear that this wasn't their business, but was up to the Holy Father. There is a character called Richard Rich, a young man who wanted desperately to receive a position in the law with Thomas More. He eventually succeeded Thomas More as chancellor. Fr. Matt said the character is fascinating. More can see his strengths and weaknesses, how he could be tempted in greed or lust for power and seduced by his own intellect. More tried to encourage him into a field where he could be safe from such temptations and where he could live virtuously. Ultimately, Rich ends up joining More's nemesis, Cromwell, and tells the lie that becomes the false evidence that convicts More of being disloyal to the throne. Scot said More sensed Rich's potential as well as the danger of keeping him around, yet he still tried to mentor him and help him find his true vocation. Scot compared it to how Jesus knew Judas would betray him, yet kept him close and tried to form him so He could forgive him. More loved Rich loved him like a second father to the young man. Fr. Chip said in the actor's performance you can see More's love and respect for Rich and how he saw the danger in his path. You see people like this in your own life, people who are traveling on a bad path and won't respond to your prompting to go another direction. Fr. Matt said More was really being a friend to him. So often we hear that people will go along with what someone wants to do because that's being their friend, when friendship considers what's really good for him. It invites us to consider how important it is to be a good friend and to mentor, especially young people, in the faith, to help them discover the gifts that they have and encourage them in that direction. And not to be afraid to say that we don't think this is not a good direction, speaking in love. Fast-forwarding in the movie, upon Wolsey's death, the king appoints Thomas More as his new chancellor. The heat on the chancellor to find a way for the king to divorce his wife and re-marry is turned up on Thomas. He tries to stay as distant from it as possible, until Henry comes to visit him. Fr. Chip said Henry is trying to use his friendship with More to convince him of the need to accede to the king's desire. That unwavering faith in what the Church says is pretty adamant and strong in his personality and shown well through the actor's performance. It becomes a battle of the wills and More isn't the one to blink. He's very careful not to say something that will result him in being beheaded. King Henry knows that in all of England, Thomas More is respected for his integrity and honesty. And it's because of that reputation that the king wants More's support so that the people will be have confidence that the king is doing the right thing. The queen, Catherine, is not unpopular so the king wanted to win their support first. More was between an all-powerful king as well as his well-meaning family who did not understand his strong stance, on the one hand, and his unwavering commitment to truth, integrity, and his faith on the other. All these years later, More retains the respect of people and is known for his honesty. Fr. Matt said he is authentic which happens when the outward appearance matches up with the who I am in the interior life. Catholics are called to be witnesses by the way we live our lives with authenticity and integrity. You can take away many things from a man, but you can't take away his witness. He can give it away, however. It takes great courage to live that witness. **4th segment:** It’s time to announce the winner of the weekly **WQOM Benefactor Raffle**. Our prize this week is a copy of the 2 audio CD set [How Mary & the Rosary Can Change Your Life](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1932927131/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=pilo0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399373&creativeASIN=1932927131), by Marcellino D'Ambrosio. This week’s winner is **Brian & Marcia Kean from West Roxbury, Mass**. Congratulations Brian and Marcia! 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 More talks in the movie about the important role of conscience: When leaders forsake their private conscience in their public duties, they lead their countries on a short route to chaos. Fr. Matt said the conscience is the place where the Lord speaks to the soul and the Lord informs the conscience to make decisions in light of God's plan for how He made the world to be. We need to have informed consciences when it comes to moral issues. It's not just our conscience, but an informed conscience. The Church's teachings are formed in rationality. Fr. Chip said people in public life today will say, I'm personally opposed, but I can't impose my conscience on someone else. But they're not imposing. The conscience is informed by the truth, so why wouldn't you spread the truth as opposed to spreading a lie. Scot said the Holy Father has said that if your conscience rooted in the truth is not heeded, then someone else's conscience is being imposed on you. Private conscience is rooted and based on principles. St. Thomas More is saying that a government official needs to have a well-rooted private conscience in order to lead and do their public duties. If they're not rooted and instead put their fingers in the wind to do what's popular, he says they are leading their country by a short route to chaos. Public officials aren't elected just to vote on what the majority of their constituents want, but are elected because of their proper judgment and formation. We elect them in order to trust them to get into the details that we can't in the rest of society and apply their good judgment, virtue, and values. Fr. Chip said our system of government has turned into a system of polls and where people want us to go this day. To find corruption, all you have to see is three speakers of the House in the Mass. Legislature in a row convicted of felonies. What's wrong with this picture? We keep sending the same sorts of people back to office and get the same result. Scot said we, as voters, have allowed our system of government to be dumbed down. Politicians legislate by polls, because we as voters have allowed them to. There is a lot less expected of candidates in races, probably because we're a soundbite media and because the voters have stopped demanding substance. Voters need to reward people for taking ethical stands, even if we disagree with them because we want people of true value and principle in office even if we agree with them only 80% or 90% of the time. Fr. Matt said it reflects the lack of appreciation by voters for virtuous leadership. Politicians are a reflection of ourselves as a country. If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything. It takes courage to consistently stand for something. Thomas More was a man of authenticity. The king went to Thomas More because the people were watching him and saw him as a man if integrity. His lack of support hindered the king's goals. Fr. Chip said voters have to decide if the current system is what we want for the future. He'd rather stand with someone who stood for something rather than someone wavering in the wind. Scot said More had a discussion with his future son-in-law, who pleaded with More to circumvent the law in order to fix the ills he saw in society. More asked him if he would cut down every law in England to get at the "devil" and the son-in-law said he would. And More said, And when the last law is cut down and the devil turns on you at last, where will you hide? This country is planted thick with laws and if you cut them down, do you think you'd stand upright in the winds that would buffet you? "Yes, I'd give the devil the benefit of the law for my own safety's sake." Scot said most elected officials respect that we have a system of laws and if you don't like the way things are, you change the law through the legislature and normal protocols. But recent examples of the undermining of the law include same-sex marriage in Massachusetts where the law was not changed legislatively, but through the courts and the voters weren't given a chance to vote on it. Also, when Mass. voters have passed tax reforms in referenda, they were ignored. And when the Defense of Marriage Act was passed nationally, President Obama instructed the Justice Department not to advocate to defend the law. There might be times when we're on the side where the law doesn't benefit us and if we encourage people on our side to ignore the rule of law, it's to our own peril. It's troubling when laws get circumvented either through the judiciary overstepping their bounds or the executive not enforcing the laws. Fr. Chip said it's also troubling when those in power change the rules to stay in power and people who wish to serve can't beat them in elections so keep having the same people over and over again. We have a judiciary that constantly oversteps its bounds and the Founding Fathers put the checks and balances in place for a reason. We see those checks and balances break down in the past decade and cowardice in the legislature, where they wouldn't stand up and let the people be heard. Thomas More would not have stood for that. Fr. Matt said it also speaks of the need for a new evangelization. The Church has to continue to find ways to help people whose hearts have grown cold in the faith. People are being more evangelized by the gospel of the culture than the Gospel of the Jesus Christ. It calls for the Church to reclaim her prophetic role of teaching, preaching, witnessing and evangelizing. Scot said in the state of New York the legalization of gay marriage is before the state legislature and Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York has spoken up on the Church's views and many folks have been attacking him from all sides. He has spoken the truth with courage and joviality and certainly it can't be comfortable for anyone to read headlines calling him a bigot. Scot said there's no one better at articulating the Church's teachings in the public sphere with the right tone and emphasis. Yet he still takes a beating in the press. **6th segment:** In the end, Thomas More is martyred. Fr. Matt said the word comes from Greek and it means "witness." They are witnesses by the shedding of their blood. They are willing to die for their belief in Christ. More was willing to die rather than compromise his faith in the Lord or be a false witness. Fr. Matt said it shows that faith is messy. St. Paul was a real men dealing with persecution, but we can forget that with a cursory reading of his letters. It's not easy to live for Christ in the world. Fr. Chip said we have a sanitized idea of Christianity. We see saints with halos in pictures and think everything is great, but we forget that they struggled heroically for the faith. Maybe we don't talk about it enough. People who show heroic witness need to be exalted. Scot said Americans of today don't often encounter persecution for our faith, but there are martyrs around the world all the time. Just this year, there have been martyrs in Pakistan, Ivory Coast, Iraq, Egypt, Indonesia, and more. Fr. Chip he hears people say they couldn't make it to Mass because the parking lot was full, yet people in Latin America will walk miles to go to Sunday Mass, even if they can once per month. Previous generations of American Catholics have suffered white martyrdom, which is suffering for the faith, but not physical violence. Fr. Matt said we endure martyrdom because we love Jesus, He's worth dying for or even just losing our reputations. We need to pray for courage to live our faith intentionally. And my witness has an overflowing effect on other people because others see us living our faith. Scot said St. Thomas was able to have this courage because he was a man of prayer. Fr. Chip said Thomas' final words were, "I was the king's good servant, but God's first." We need to remember that in our own lives. To be in service to God first. More even forgave the executioner and told him to do his duty.