The Good Catholic Life

**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O'Connor **Today's guest(s):** Fr. Carlos Suarez from Christ the King, Our Lady of Lourdes, and St. Edith Stein Parishes, Brockton; and Fr. John D'Arpino from St. Thomas Aquinas Parish, Bridgewater * [George Martell's photos of the presbyteral ordination Mass](http://www.flickr.com/photos/bostoncatholic/sets/72157626770315180/) * [The Pilot story on the ordination Mass](http://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=13386) * [Christ the King, Brockton](http://ctkp.org/) * [Our Lady of Lourdes, Brockton](http://ourladyoflourdes-brockton.com/) * [St. Edith Stein, Brockton](http://stedithsteinparish.org/) * [St. Thomas Aquinas, Bridgewater](http://stthomasaquinas.com/) **Today's topics:** Meeting two of the newest priests in the Archdiocese, Fr. John D'Arpino and Fr. Carlos Suarez **A summary of today's show:** Fr. Carlos Suarez and Fr. John D'Arpino talk with Scot and Fr. Chris about their first weeks as newly ordained priests, their experience of the ordination Mass, celebrating the first Masses, and moving into their new parish assignments. Also, their own journeys of discerning their vocations to the priesthood. **1st segment:** Scot welcomes Fr. chris back to the show. He has been looking forward to this show since May 21 when 6 men were ordained for Boston. Fr. Chris has been to other ordinations as well, including the Dioceses of Worcester and Springfield, where men who studied at St. John Seminary will serve. On Friday, they also had a catechetical certificate graduation. The program educate catechists to know more about their faith in order to work in parishes and share the faith. In Scot's experience, when a newly ordained priest is assigned to a parish, it re-energizes that parish. Fr. Chris said it's a reminder that the Church is ever ancient and ever new, always young. On Pentecost, we're reminded that the Holy Spirit re-energizes us. That your first love is your greatest love is true for priests as well: There will be no parish like their first parish. **2nd segment:** Scot and Fr. Chris welcome Fr. Carlos and Fr. John to the show. Scot asked Fr. John what it was like during the ordination ceremony after his years of formation. Fr. John said during the moment when Cardinal Seán asked him to pledge his obedience was a highlight for him. He remembers how peaceful he was during the whole ordination and was able to pray. The one moment that sticks out for him is the prayer that the priest prays during the Lamb of God and he suddenly realized he needed to say it. ALso during the Litany of the Saints, it touched him to think of praying with everyone in the cathedral, but also everyone who has come before. Scot asked what it's like to lay on the floor before the altar during the litany of the Saints. Fr. John said it's a humbling experience to receive those prayers of all the people. We are unworthy, but we accept it as a gift from God. Scot asked Fr. Carlos for his brightest memories of the ceremony. He said the imposition of the hands by all the brother priests was a powerful moment. He felt the communion of the priesthood as each one prayed for him. He felt a fraternity and affection from each of them. Fr. Chris asked Fr. Carlos what he was thinking about as he headed to the cathedral. He said it was overwhelming in prayer to think about all the graces he was receiving from God. The concentration on the logistics of the day helped to put aside the stress and just enter into the Mass. Scot said the closest equivalent for laypeople was their wedding day and many of them have to stress over details. Fr. John said he was lucky that he didn't have to deal logistics. He just had to show up at the cathedral and then the reception. Being on retreat for the week right up to the ordination helped him to focus on the most important part of the day. Fr. Chris said one of Cardinal Seán's gifts is preaching his homilies. Fr. Carlos said the Cardinal capitalized on the news about those who expected the Rapture and end of the world that weekend. He started with some humor, but then talked about how the Mass is a rapturous experience for people. Fr. John said he liked how the Cardinal talked about the upper room, the place of the Last Supper but also where the Apostles and Mary were gathered for Pentecost. It was a reminder that the ordination is an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Scot asked Fr. John if there was anything about the ordination that surprised him. He was surprised at the amount of joy from the other priests during the Sign of Peace, even from priests he'd never met. It struck him that they are a family and now brothers in the priesthood. Fr. Carlos said he didn't expect the impact of things, especially during the prayers of consecration, recognizing the awesomeness of the moment,. Fr. John chose Fr. Brian Kiely from St. Patrick, Natick, who was his pastor during his assignment to the parish over the past two year.s It was a recognition of his love for the priesthood and that he is one of the best priests he knows. Fr. Carlos chose Fr. Michael MacEwen from Immaculate Conception, Marlboro, for similar reasons. Fr. Carlos had a lot of family fly into Boston from across the country, which was a great gift for him and a support to him in his vocation. **3rd segment:** SCot asked Fr. Carlos when he first heard his calling to the priesthood. He knew from the time he was six that God was calling him to be a priest. He would come home from Mass and play at being a priest. As he grew up and the immensity of God's calling was daunting and he started to push back. He looked into other interests and other fields of study. Around the end of senior year of high school, his faith life took off. The next year he went on a vocation discernment retreat and there was a great sense of peace and a sense of coming home. He explored both religious life and the diocesan priesthood. He graduated from Boston University in 2003 and entered seminary after. He had initially looked at the Salesian order because of his great love for youth ministry, but God made it clear that He wants him to live it through parish life in the Archdiocese of Boston. The Salesians are great, but it was clear God wasn't placing him there. Fr. Chris asked Fr. John about whether he looked into religious life. Fr. John had been exposed to the Benedictines during college and looked int o that life, but realized that he wasn't called to the monastery. He had a sense of giving back to the Church in Boston, which had given him so much of his faith. His vocation began with serving daily Mass in his parish in Lynn and that's what led him to entering the diocesan priesthood. He attended BC High and the retreat experience they offer there helped him. It's a weekend retreat in which the retreat team shares how God has worked in their life. They are encouraged to bring the prayer experiences of the retreat to the rest of their life. Faith became personal and not just a set of rules. Fr. Carlos did not go to any Catholic schools. Scot asked how attending secular schools helped him. Fr. Carlos said one of the great gifts at BU is the Catholic Center. At a secular university, living Catholicism must be an intentional act. It made the faith come alive. Belonging to a community helped strengthen him in his discernment of his vocation. Fr. Chris asked what other priests have been influential. Fr. John said his first pastor, Fr. Ed Malone, was a model of loving the priesthood and serving the people of the parish. The Jesuit priests at BC HIgh radiated the love of Christ. The monks of St. Anselm College were witness of joy and hope and helped him see Christ in his life. Fr. Carlos said there were many pastors, but the pastor of his parish growing up in East Boston was Fr. John Kilmartin, who died about 1-1/2 years ago. In the midst of his suffering, he served the people with joy. Scot asked about the final years of discernment at the seminary. Fr. Carlos said his first 15 minutes at the seminary led him to ask, What am I doing here. But as the years went by he felt a great joy and peace that he was doing what God called him to do. Fr. John agreed with experience. He found joy in growing into this idea of being father to the people he was serving. Fr. Chris said that there's a saying that every priest has one homily he preaches. Fr. Carlos said the basic message he wants to convey is the message of hope. People are often seeking joy and peace in so many other things. He hopes others find the real peace and joy that God wants. Fr. John said he preaches on the fact that we have hope because God loves us in a personal way. In that love and hope, we can find help and grace through any difficulty. **4th segment:** Fr. John said Cardinal Seán's homily reminded that the priest at Mass is both Priest and Victim. He is the sacrifice and the one who offers the sacrifice. Fr. Carlos said his first Mass was at his home parish at St. Joseph-St. Lazarus in East Boston. Being the celebrant at this altar was a beautiful moment that he's still trying to process even 2 weeks later. He asked Fr. Bob Oliver to preach at his first Mass, who had been his faculty adviser and a professor at St. John's and a role model of the priesthood. Fr. Chris asked Fr. John about his first Mass. He said during the elevation he was struck by how real the moment was, unlike any of the practices Masses he had done. He was blown away to think that he held the Creator of the Universe in his hands. And then after distribution of Communion, sitting back in his chair, to be at peace and be amazed at what just happened. Scot asked what it's like to be the principal celebrant at your first Mass. Fr. John said it's a blur, but he was absolutely present. He was nervous and wanted everything to be right. But he was able to present to it and can now recall it and look back on it. Fr. John said Fr. Peter Fournier, a recently ordained priest from Fall River who is a friend. Scot asked Fr. John about his new assignment. The pastor at St. Thomas Aquinas is new so Fr. John is moving in on June 17. But he did meet some parishioners at the ordination Mass. He was also at freshman orientation at [Bridgewater State University](http://www.bridgew.edu/) yesterday, which is part of his responsibility. Fr. Carlos was assigned to three parishes. He's finished his first week. He's one a 3-week rotation of the parishes each Sunday. He said it's amazing how the Holy Spirit has helped him work in three parishes. He finds the people warm and welcoming. Scot asked him about the sacramental work: He's heard confessions and done anointings and celebrated daily and Sunday Masses. He enjoys meeting people after Mass and getting to know them. Fr. Carlos said there are 4 main languages in his parishes, including English, Cape Verdean Creole, Haitian Creole, and Spanish. Fr. Carlos speaks English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Arabic. He hopes to learn the Creole languages. He's learned that Brockton is a diverse and energetic place, especially among the youth. There is a lot of energy in the parishes. Fr. John said he was thrilled to be able to do college campus ministry. It's a real sign of how important it is to help young people. They're not just the future of the Church; they are the present of the Church. Fr. Chris asked about their favorite saints. Fr. Carlos said [St. John Bosco](http://saints.sqpn.com/saint-john-bosco/) for his zeal for youth and [St. Maximilian Kolbe](http://saints.sqpn.com/saint-maximilian-kolbe/) for his martyrdom in which he gave his life for others. He said he hopes to inspired by the notion of the idea that his life is to be sacrificial on behalf of his people. Fr. John said he is inspired by [St. Ignatius of Loyola](http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07639c.htm) for how he was a soldier, but then he was drawn to his faith; St. Maximilian Kolbe, having been to Auschwitz himself and to think of being at the site of martyrdom and to see how Christ animated his priesthood. Fr. Chris said he is inspired by [St. Therese of Lisieux](http://www.sttherese.com/), finding the way to love in all that we do. Loving the Lord and your neighbor in such a way as it's found in the little things we do every day. Also, Bl. John Paul II, is fortitude, courage, and intelligence. And [St. Francis of Assisi](http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06221a.htm), in his willingness to give of himself and to point to the beauty of the natural world. **5th segment:** Scot asked Fr. Carlos how he has experienced the Holy Spirit in a new way. Certainly, the celebration of the Mass, but also in his acting as a priest. In his preaching, he sometimes feels that God is working through you to touch someone's life. Scot asked Fr. John what advice he has for men listening to the program who are discerning God's calling. He said that no matter what you are called to there will be challenges and don't be discouraged. Develop a habit of prayer. In listening to God's calling you in your heart through silence and attention, you can be sure it's God calling you and not your own will. How do we try to pray in a busy life? The most important thing to do is to set time aside. If you want to be serious about it, then make the time. Set aside a space in your home that is set apart for prayer. Go to a Church to pray. Read Scripture and ask God to speak to you through it. Fr. Chris spoke of the promises that the priests made, including the gift of celibacy. Fr. John said it's a reminder that it's an image of Christ himself, who lived a life of poverty and obedience and chastity. The priest takes on that image of Christ. It reminds us that in heaven there is no giving and taking in marriage. By being celibate, the priest shows our future in heaven. Fr. Carlos said every vocation requires a sacrifice. In marriage, we pledge exclusivity to one person. In priesthood, the Church is his bride. The people of the church are his spiritual children. That desire is fulfilled through a sacrifice to God. If God is calling you to do something, then he will fulfill you in everything you do. Scot added that praying to God for grace in anything that comes into our life is fruitful. We don't go alone; we have Jesus and the holy Spirit to help fulfill us. Fr. Carlos said we don't have to do it alone. God gives us the grace to live out the vows He's invited us to take. His advice for those discerning their lives is to not be afraid. If God is calling you, then that is what will give you the greatest happiness in life. That is what will most fulfill us. Offer your natural fears to God in prayer and you will see fears settled and joys unfold. Fr. Chris echoed the advice not to be afraid. He said entering the seminary is not making a lifetime commitment. Seminary is for coming and seeing if God is calling you to the priesthood.

**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry **Today's guest(s):** Jeffrey Thielman and Fr. Jose Medina from Cristo Rey Boston High School * [Cristo Rey Boston High School](http://www.cristoreyboston.org) * [Cristo Rey Network](http://www.cristoreynetwork.org) * [Jeff Thielman's Arlington School Committee election website](http://www.jeffthielman.com/) * ["More Than A Dream" book website](http://morethanadreambook.com/) * ["More Than A Dream: The Cristo Rey Story; How One School's Vision is Changing the World" on Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0829425764/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=pilo0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217153&creative=399349&creativeASIN=0829425764) * Cristo Rey on CBS' "60 Minutes" **Today's topics:** Cristo Rey Boston High School, a new model of Catholic education **A summary of today's show:** Jeff Thielman and Fr. Jose Medina tell Scot about Cristo Rey high school in Boston and its unique model that puts students to work in the corporate world one day per week to give them important life skills and to help them pay for an education they wouldn't be able to afford otherwise. **1st segment:** Scot said Catholic education is one of the Church's most important outreach initiatives, especially to non-Catholic students to help them improve their lives and communities. Today an exciting topic. Cristo Rey has a unique model of secondary education. Joining Scot is Jeffrey Thielman and Fr. Jose Medina. Jeff was a Jesuit Volunteer from 1985 to 1989 in Peru. In 1994, a priest he had worked with there founded Cristo Rey high school in Chicago. The students there work at white collar firms to earn their tuition. In 1997, he visited the school and was hired as development director and worked there for three years. In 2000, a venture capitalist originally from Lowell came to the school and said he wanted to see Cristo Rey schools all over the country. He hired Jeff in 2001 and he oversaw the founding of 24 schools all across the country. In 2008, he moved to working exclusively locally at Cristo Rey Boston. The school started in Cambridge and moved to Boston's Dorchester neighborhood this year. In Boston there are two Cristo Rey schools, Cristo Rey in Boston and Notre Dame in Lawrence, founded in 2004. Chicago has three, Boston has two, and no other diocese has more than one. Fr. Jose taught for a year at North Cambridge Catholic High School, which was the school Cristo Rey Boston was founded from. It was struggling financially and it was converted to Cristo Rey. He and Jeff wrote a feasibility study for the idea. He moved to Washington, DC, and came back 5 years ago and became principal of the local Cristo Rey school. Jeff described what makes Cristo Rey unique. It is the work-study experience. Four students split a full-time entry level job in greater Boston. Every student works five full 8-hour days per month. One student works 9-5 on Tuesday, the next on Wednesday, etc. and they rotate a Monday. The school is organized so that all the freshman have the same work day, and so on, so no one misses a class. They work to make tuition. The family assigns all the earnings to the school. The kind of student they get is one who wants to work hard for a better life. They learn how to work in a team, to be on time, to work hard, to learn. They are a Catholic school. All students take theology, go on retreats, go to Masses. It's a small school. Every student is known by everyone, especially faculty. It's also college prep, preparing every student to go to college. Fr. Jose said they serve low income students exclusively. From the first Cristo Rey school was to serve the students who don't have the resources to go to a Catholic college preparatory school. It is easy to get away from your mission if it can't be measured, so they are committed to a low-income population, which here is 75% of the per capita income of Boston. For a family of four children is $40,000 income. They will also be academically excellent. They see a population in eed of great support and help. When the family doesn't have the means, they need someone who will not just give money, but will support them. They want their children to be better than they are, to be more successful. They know they will need help from someone else. The students play that role for others as well. When the family signs the agreement for the school, they go over what the parents will pay (between $100 and $2,800), what the school will fundraise and what the student will earn ($7,250). The students bring in 60% of the school's budget. They are responsible for their education but they also raise the money for their teachers' jobs. Scot asked Jeff for the demographics. The average income of the current student body is $34,000. Next year, the average income will go even lower. 93% are people of color, 73% are residents of Boston, 30% from Quincy, Braintree, Randolph, Malden, Medford, Saugus, Revere, Lynn. They are young kids with desire and are willing to work hard for a better life. The average student is a grade below where they are academically, i.e. in 8th grade they are doing 7th grade work. They have mandatory remediation for freshman. They have a monthly proficiency exam developed by the teachers. A lot of them score "needs improvement" on the MCAS. But the kids have a burning desire to make it. When they did a feasibility study in 1993, parents came to them and said they want their kids to go to college. 15% are Haitian a little less Cape Verdean; 20% are Latino, and the rest are African-American. A high percentage had parents who were born outside the United States, many were themselves born outside the country. **2nd segment:** Scot said he was never taught basic job and career management skills in high school, but these students are prepared at 14 to be able to go into business and hold their own. Jeff said they're working at 104 companies in Greater Boston. The biggest objection is whether the students will be ready to work. They start a summer training program in June and August. It's a boot camp to learn hard skills--telephones, message taking, email, how to use the Internet, how to make copies--and soft skills--look people in the eye, dress appropriately, show up on time, ask if you don't understand an assignment. They have state of the school addresses to students: number of jobs, amount of money raised, how students were terminated, so they know how their work is important to their own futures. The experience pays the bills and forms them to be fantastic young people. Scot said when they walk into a skyscraper for the first time, they may never have thought they'd work in such a place. Fr. Jose said it's a humbling experience that the kids bring back to the school. Four years ago a student said work is more serious than school, because at work you can only get something wrong once. It gives them a sense of reality, that they need to do their best with precision and accuracy. They always ask the students to ask for more work. That would sound strange in a classroom, but it's expected in the workplace. Fr. Jose said there's been a big change in the teachers coming from the desire and drive and high standards of the students. If the kids criticize teachers, it's because they want to learn more and better. Because they're paying their own way, they are more serious about their education. In heir senior year, they see that they are forming themselves. Jeff said they do entry level work: copying, filing, data entry, inventory, small research projects. In one company, a student is assigned to update the CEO's Christmas mailing list constantly. Some kids help with hospital intake because they're multilingual. Some kids work the front desk reception. At law firms, they run documents to court or other law firms. When the recession hit in 2008, a lot of clerical workers were cut. but the work still needed to be done and Cristo Rey was able to fill those gaps. this whole work makes education relevant. One of the challenges in high school education is making it relevant to kids who could care less. It helps them understand why they're studying all these various subjects; so that one day they can have an important role in business. Relevance is critical in education today. Fr. Jose said in some ways they teach at a more practical level because they want to use the skills immediately in their jobs, but they still offer a more classical education. What matters to the students is that they understand that there is a value in learning as much as in working. Students know that what they are studying affects their lives, even if it's not directly applicable to their jobs. What you learn in school is what is left when you've forgotten everything else: You've learned to think, to sacrifice, to commit, to pay attention, to have curiosity. Students in other schools sometimes think life would be better in a job than in school, but Cristo Rey students have a better perspective. They have the tools to do better in college, which is what makes them different from vocational education. 100% of the students get accepted to four-year colleges. Scot said this is astonishing given how many come in with remedial educational needs. There are 104 corporate sponsors. Scot asked how they benefit besides getting a worker for $29,000 per year. Jeff said the students have to add value to the school through their work. They add value by diversifying the workplace. They are potential future employees or customers or suppliers to these firms. A lot of people who work in Boston live outside the city and don't know it well, just what they hear in the news. Companies are able to do something concrete and tangible for city kids. Sometimes people from the firms get more involved in the school because of that exposure. Jeff said corporate American becomes closer to the center city. Scot asked what kind of feedback do they get from corporate sponsors. Jeff said there's a 90% retention rate, i.e. they renew in the program from year to year. For one thing, these positions usually have high turnover so what Cristo Rey offers is four excited, hard-working students who do the same task for an entire year, stabilizing those positions. **3rd segment:** 60% of the students are CAtholic, but the Catholic identity of the school is primary part of their identity. Fr. Jose said they believe it's important for the school to give students the Catholic theological basis for facing the challenges of the rest of their lives. Even the value of work is at stake. The question of the purpose of life is present from the very beginning. Theology classes give the students a deep understanding of Scripture. In junior year there is a course on world religions to compare and contrast different religions. It helps them understand the root of each student's faith. With the diversity of faiths in the student population, this difference in faiths is enriching for everyone. Fr. Jose sees his mission as helping each student deepen in his own faith. Scot said Pope John Paul talked about work as a gift of God. Jeff said the mission of Cristo Rey is to form people of faith, purpose, and service. They have a call to do something special in life and to serve the world, making it a better place. they reflect on it in retreats and continuously through the year. The learn that there is a dignity to work for everyone in the workplace from janitor to CEO. They understand why having a job and doing a good job is important for a good society. Students often go on to Catholic colleges, especially Jesuit colleges, because of the Jesuit connection. The students who come back report that they feel at home. The sense of community in the school as they grow and sacrifice. They often have to sacrifice sports and other activities in order to be successful. Jeff said the school is now tracking the students after graduation. The class of 2009, 100% started college and 85% went from freshman to sophomore year. Most of the last three years of students felt they were doing well in college and were well prepared. the school finds it important that the students will be well-cared for. They look for colleges with high graduation rates, that offer freshman assistance programs, and more. They research colleges to make sure they're sending them to the right place. For most of the students, they are the first in their families to go to college. The college application process involves the whole family and the school walks them through the entire process, including the whole financial aid package. they don't recommend any family take on more than $8,000 of family contribution to tuition each year. The students bring a maturity with them to college, often greater than any of the other freshman. Jeff said sometimes supervisors give letters of recommendation. He also finds that colleges are impressed by the lists of employers that the students' resumes have. When they go off to college, the students think a lot about their experience and that influences what fields of study they pursue. A lot of kids want to go into healthcare so Jeff is looking for more job opportunities in biotech and healthcare. Jeff said one their graduates is now working at Deloitte, a big financial services firm, in Boston, who worked there when in high school. Some kids decide against a particular career after some experience at a particular kind of job and go into another field instead. **4th segment:** A significant milestone for the school this year was the move from Cambridge to the former St. William's school in Savin Hill in Dorchester. Jeff said it's helped them to get closer to their kids physically. It's also larger and more functional than the old school. If a family wants to find out more is to visit the school. Every applicant spends a half-day at the school. Also visit the school's website. If a corporate sponsor wants to learn more, go to the website, call the school 617-825-2580 and ask for the corporate study office, or get off Exit 15 on the Southeast Expressway right by the Savin Hill MBTA stop. They need 20 new corporate sponsors per year over the next 5 years. They want to place 100% of the students by the first of August. Thirty percent of the operating costs of the school come from fundraising, about $900,000 per year. At the academic signing day each spring, the top 5 students announce where they're going to college at a public event, a ceremony like athletic signing ceremonies. They raise money at that event, but they also accept donations all year long. 49 students are graduating later this week. Two are going into the US Marine Corps and the rest to 4-year colleges. Dr. Mary Grassa-O'Neill, the superintendent of schools in the Archdiocese of Boston, will speak about the commencement. Jeff said they love to have people come visit and people who come find it welcoming and inspiring.

**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry, Fr. Matt Williams, and Fr. Mark O'Connell **Today's guest(s):** Fr. Joseph Fessio, SJ, president and founder of Ignatius Press * [Ignatius Press](http://www.ignatius.com) * [YouCat](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1586175165/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=pilo0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217153&creative=399701&creativeASIN=1586175165) * On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of this week, WQOM and the Station of the Cross network are holding their [2011 Spring Fund Drive](https://www.thestationofthecross.com/wqom-spring-fund-drive-2011.html). All donors over $30 will receive a Station of the Cross "Benefactor Card" and are eligible to win great daily and hourly prizes. Consequently, the recorded shows for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday as heard on this site and downloaded through iTunes will not include the Spring Fund Drive segments as heard live as they aired. **Today's topics:** The new Catholic catechism called YouCat; the Mass readings for Sunday **A summary of today's show:** Fr. Joseph Fessio tells Scot and Fr. Matt about the origin of the new YouCat youth catechism, which is not a replacement for the universal Catechism, but a formulation addressing the particular concerns of the young in new ways. They also discuss Pope Benedict's very direct and surprising appeal to young people in the foreword to the YouCat. Finally, Scot and Fr. Mark discuss this Sunday's Mass readings. **1st segment:** Scot welcomes Fr. Mark back to the show. Scot said this is the 62nd broadcast of The Good Catholic Life. He said it's been fun to learn more about his faith, to meet a lot of new people, and to get to know his co-hosts better than he had. Fr. Mark said it's a blessing in his life as well. More and more people come up to him to say they've heard him on the radio. The other week a priest said to him, "I stole something from you that you said on the radio when you were on with Msgr. Connie McCrae." Fr. Mark thinks it's great. Scot thanks WQOM and all its benefactors for allowing him to broadcast The Good Catholic Life every day to the Boston area. Fr. Mark encouraged everyone to spread the good news of The Good Catholic Life, which is unique to Boston and it's always current. Fr. Mark said his parents gather on Fridays to listen faithfully and comment to him about the show. He said his mom corrected him when he referred to something his pastor, Fr. Sepe, cooked for him as slimy. She told him that everything Fr. Sepe cooks is good and he should apologize. Scot's mom also had a strong reaction to the show with Fr. Sepe. He grew up in St. Michael's Parish in Lowell, the same parish Scot grew up in, and Scot had expressed surprise at this because he hadn't known. Scot's mom called him to say, "How could you not Kevin Sepe from St. Michael's? We knew him growing up." **2nd segment:** Scot welcomes Fr. Matt Williams and Fr. Joseph Fessio to the show. Scot said the YouCat is a new initiative for youth, a catechism designed to be youth-friendly. He asked Fr. Fessio how it's different from other catechisms that are out there in the Church. Fr. Fessio said when the universal [Catechism of the Catholic Church](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0385508190/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=pilo0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217153&creative=399349&creativeASIN=0385508190) came out, the Holy Father, Bl. John Paul II, in his preface said that this was for the whole Church, but that there would have to be adaptations for different groups and different cultures and so on. This youth catechism is not only done for younger people, but also by younger people, collaborating in the effort. He was in Rome in April for the presentation to the Holy Father of the YouCat in 13 languages so far, and there was a reception that evening put on the Knights of Malta at their world headquarters. Cardinal Schönborn gave a description of how the catechism came about. One of the editors, a mother of six who's a well-known writer in Germany, and one of the young people who was involved were there with Cardinal Schönborn. The cardinal was appointed by Cardinal Ratzinger back in 1987 to help oversee the preparation of the universal Catechism, which came out in the early 90s. But there was felt a need to have something a little shorter with a question and answer format and so they produced later, the [Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1574557203/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=pilo0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217153&creative=399349&creativeASIN=1574557203) and that was presented in Europe in 2005. Cardinal Schönborn was present for that release of the Compendium. At the press conference, a German publisher was there. A woman stood up in the audience and said to the cardinal that the Compendium is wonderful, but she wouldn't buy it for her young children because they can't understand it and she said they should create a catechism for young people. Cardinal Schönborn took that to heart and the German publisher, who was involved with a summer Catholic youth camp, asked if he could take the idea as a subject for the youth camp that summer. They brought in 50 young people--mainly high school and college age--and spent the whole week going over the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the Compendium, asking their questions and discussing things they needed to hear about. Then a team of writers--two theologians and two educators--got together for the draft of the new catechism. The next summer they had the same 50 kids back for another week, they went over the draft, took pictures, added elements to the sidebars, and that was what led to the YouCat. So back to what makes it different. While many catechisms are question-and-answer format, it has commentary--all based on the universal catechism--and sidebars with sayings of the saints, lots of graphics, a glossary of terms, and other supplementary materials. Plus the whole graphic layout is very attractive to young people. The only problem they've found is that it's hard to get it into young people's hands, because the old people get it and start looking at it, they get excited about it, and they won't give it to their kids and are reading it themselves. Scot said that he found the quotes in the sidebars to be great. He's never seen a better reference yet. Mother Teresa, St. John Vianney, and various recent Popes. That in itself is tremendous to take into holy hours and pray one of the 527 questions as well as the sidebars and explanations. He asked how the language used is different from the universal catechism to make it more appealing to youth. Fr. Fessio wouldn't say it's dumbed down. After all, it's mainly a group of German kids working on this and they are pretty academically oriented, but it's simplified. It's readable, while challenging. In the preface, the Holy Father said it isn't going to be easy, that there are hard sayings here and complicated things to learn, but it is adapted as much as possible for younger people. Scot said one of the neat parts he found were stick figures at the bottom and as you flip through the pages, they're animated like in a flipbook. The stick figure is in a journey and at the end he's walking with Jesus. Fr. Fessio said that's exactly it and on the last page he jumps out of the book. He's saying, now that we've learned our catechism let's go out and live it. Scot said that aspect alone will be appreciated by some of the youth and hopefully that it encourages them to flip through the pages far more frequently and just stick on a question, stay and read it, and then think about it. **3rd segment:** Young people were very involved in the production of this book. How specifically did they influence what the final product turned out to be? Fr. Fessio said it's based on the four pillars of the Catechism: What we believe, how we worship, how we live, and how we pray. That was a parameter that was given by the nature of the Catechism. But they recognized certain areas--especially sexual morality--that they were particularly interested in and needed to know more about the Church's teaching. They took all the pictures and illustrated it. They picked out all the quotes, which they thought would speak to themselves and other about whatever topics were treated on those pages. That was their main contribution. They also told those writing the catechism when they didn't understand something and needed clarification. Fr. Matt said that it takes into consideration the concerns of today's youth and young adults in a relevant way. He asked Fr. Fessio how he sees that playing itself out in YouCat, especially considering all the different cultures around the world it seeks to address. Fr. Fessio said that was part of the idea of this catechism. The central part, the Church's teachings, would be the same for all countries, but the sidebar quotes and graphics would be done by the young people of those countries and there was a lot of leeway. Interestingly enough, what people found was that in no country--22 so far--did they want to make any substantial changes to the sidebar quotes and commentary. He thinks the Internet has changed our culture in such a way that there is a youth culture that is pretty common around the globe for kids who are pretty well-educated. From that point of view, it doesn't need too much of the adaptation that was planned for it, although it's always possible to do that. In India, they are very excited about it. When Fr. Fessio suggested they get some native Indian youths to participate in inculturating the catechism, they said it wasn't necessary, that they're using to seeing these things. They didn't want to change. Secondly, it's not a book to read from cover to cover. It's more of a reference book and a guide. In fact, Ignatius even did a binding so it looks like a guidebook. They are in the process now of working with [Ascension Press](http://www.ascensionpress.com/shop/Scripts/default.asp) to prepare a confirmation program that would use this YouCat as the central reference for it. He's told that's one area of catechesis that's weak in this country, that is the standard preparation for confirmation. As for young adults, they heard youth ministers say they wanted to prepare a guidebook for their use so that when they meet with young people, they can use YouCat with them. But then Midwest Theological Forum has received requests to prepare a marriage preparation course based on YouCat because a lot of the couples who come in to get married are fairly uncatechized. This can draw them into greater interest in the Church's teaching. Fr. Matt said it does feel like a guide, tremendous resources being able to direct you the saints and other sources. He said he's heard how Ignatius Press is looking to using social media to make this more available to young people. The average young people is engaged in some form of media about eight hours a day. What plans are there to use this in social media? Fr. Fessio said the Italians have put together apps for iPhone and Android--available very soon--that will give one question per day and the answer. They're also going to create Facebook page and other social networking sites where young people can talk about their faith. They're also planning to help train young people to catechize their peers using YouCat. Fr. Fessio thinks this will be a major focal point of catechetics for the next decade or so. **4th segment:** Scot wanted Fr. Fessio's perspective on the Holy Father's powerful foreword to the YouCat. It's one of the more direct pieces that the Holy Father has written in recent years. One of his quotes: >You need to know what you believe. You need to know your faith with that same precision with which an IT specialist knows the inner workings of a computer. You need to understand it like a good musician knows the piece he is playing. Yes, you need to be more deeply rooted in the faith than the generation of your parents so that you can engage the challenges and temptations of this time with strength and determination. Two very powerful analogies, but Scot was struck by his directness about knowing their faith better than their parents. He asked if Fr. Fessio was surprised by this directness? Fr. Fessio said he's never surprised by the Holy Father because he knows he's going to be surprising. He wants to make a slight correction: The Holy Father is very careful. Scot summarized by saying that kids should know more than their parents, but what the Holy Father says they need to be more deeply rooted in their faith than *the generation* of their parents. He's not saying that their parents aren't catechized but gently saying the generation isn't catechized. It's typical of him to have a delicacy or courtesy in the way he expresses these things. He gets the point across but the "iron fist has a velvet glove." Scot said it seems like tougher talk than most poeple expect from the Holy Father, directly challenging the young people to study their faith, in this foreword. Scot hoped that the bold challenge from their father in faith, the Holy Father, will motivate young people to want to pick this up. They probably have not heard this Holy Father challenge them that directly. Fr. Fessio said he was almost shocked too when he read this preface. Another quote: >Study this Catechism with passion and perseverance. Make a sacrifice of your time for it! Study it in the quiet of your room; read it with a friend; form study groups and networks; share with each other on the Internet. By all means continue to talk with each other about your faith. That's very direct! Why did he do that? Fr. Fessio said it's the kind of person he is. Years ago, Fr. Fessio was a student along with then-Fr. Schönborn of then-Fr. Ratzinger at Regensburg, Germany, and that's where Ratzinger met Schönborn and recognized Schönborn's talent and what led to Schönborn becoming a bishop and then being appointed by Ratzinger to be in charge of the catechism itself. They've had a close relationship. Cardinal Schönborn said when he went to the Holy Father with this idea that the woman had proposed , the Holy Father was almost ecstatic and that it was exactly what was needed. He got behind it right from the beginning and put his whole weight behind it. Scot said another quote that stood out to him was: >This Catechism was not written to please you. It will not make life easy for you, because it demands of you a new life. It places before you the Gospel message as the “pearl of great value” (Mt 13:46) for which you must give everything. So I beg you: Study this Catechism with passion and perseverance. It's not written to please the young people. It's a gift to them, that gives them the teachings of the Church and through that come to understand what our destiny is in God's love. Fr. Fessio said we've had two great Holy Fathers in a row and both of them have not been afraid to challenge people. We're blessed to when we see the difficulties and evils in the Church in our time to have two leaders like this, both great intellects that are able to touch people's hearts and able to engage people of all different ages and cultures. Fr. Matt said as one working in youth and young adult ministry in a diocese, you see their passion and love for young people and how they see them as the protagonists of the new evangelization and they express such great hope in them. Quoting Pope Benedict again: >Many people say to me: The youth of today are not interested in this. I disagree, and I am certain that I am right. The youth of today are not as superficial as some think. They want to know what life is really all about. A detective story is exciting because it draws us into the destiny of other men, a destiny that could be ours. This book is exciting because it speaks of our own destiny and so deeply engages every one of us. So I invite you: Study this Catechism! Even at the end where he talks about the prophet Jeremiah and encourages them to see and understand their place in the Church and not to say that they're too young, but they have an important role in the life of the Church now; not to underestimate themselves. Fr. Fessio said both of these popes have had great gifts of intellect and expression. When he speaks you want to listen and you want to go and do what he tells you to do. Scot said the lead-up to the publication of the YouCat was much more understated than the release of the Catechism in the early 90s and even the Compendium after that. Is the word just getting out? Did we want to tie the launch of this to World Youth Day and that's one of the reasons we maty not have heard as much about it as we will? Fr. Fessio said it's a good question and he doesn't know the answer to it. He knows that when Ignatius was asked to be the English-language publisher, he was interested but they thought it was just going to be another catechism for young people. But when they got the German original, with all the graphics and layout, they all got excited about it. The word has come out only because people have gotten to know what it really is and as they see, it's not just another book and another catechism, but something amazing. People are getting excited about it. Ignatius was cautious about it. They only printed 15,000 copies in the first printing, and sold them out in the first week. They did another printing of 10,000 and sold those out. They're printing 20,000 more now. It's catching on. Scot asked Fr. Fessio if there's anything else about the YouCat that listeners should know. He said go to [Ignatius.com](http://www.Ignatius.com) to get it online. **5th segment:** Scot returns with Fr. Mark to discuss the Gospel reading for this coming Sunday. The readings for this week are for the 7th Sunday of Easter. Some parishes in the listening audience will be celebrating the Feast of the Ascension, which was moved from last Thursday in some dioceses. * [First Reading for June 5, Seventh Sunday of Easter (Acts 1:12-14)](http://www.usccb.org/nab/060511c.shtml#reading1) >After Jesus had been taken up to heaven the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day’s journey away. > >When they entered the city they went to the upper room where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. All these devoted themselves with one accord to prayer, together with some women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers. * [Gospel for June 5, Seventh Sunday of Easter (John 17:1-11a)](http://www.usccb.org/nab/060511c.shtml#gospel) >Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you, just as you gave him authority over all people, so that your son may give eternal life to all you gave him. Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ. I glorified you on earth by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do. Now glorify me, Father, with you, with the glory that I had with you before the world began. > >“I revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you gave me is from you, because the words you gave to me I have given to them, and they accepted them and truly understood that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for the ones you have given me, because they are yours, and everything of mine is yours and everything of yours is mine, and I have been glorified in them. And now I will no longer be in the world, but they are in the world, while I am coming to you.” Scot said a unifying aspect of these readings is that they're about prayers. When the Apostles return to the upper room, they pray, surrounding the Blessed Mother. Then we read in the Gospel that Jesus Himself prays for each of us. If Jesus prays and the Blessed Mother prays and the Apostles pray together, then it makes Scot want to evaluate how often he prays. He tries to pray every day, but does he make it a central part of his day. It should always be a central part of his day. Fr. Mark said this is a particularly important moment in the Church year. The time between the Ascension and Pentecost. That's when we pray specifically for the coming of the Holy Spirit in a new way in our life. The Apostles and Mary were in that room. They were still troubled--even though they'd seen the Risen Lord and had seen the Ascension. Soon Pentecost comes and the Holy Spirit comes and it relieves that trouble. God begins to work new things in their lives and that happens to us too. Scot said the Gospel readings call us to a deep sense of prayer, not just where we go by a church and sit by the Blessed Sacrament or kneel beside our bed and just ask God for things. The kind of prayer talked about here can involve that, but it involves a really deep relationship, a deep friendship, a deep communion with Jesus. As we saw the Apostles, those who were his friends, they surrounded the Blessed Mother and through her intercession and maternal care, their prayers were deepened because the Blessed Mother helps us know her son. Fr. Mark said it's also a deep discerning prayer. We discern with the Blessed Mother helping us, she intercedes for us. We can go to her for help in discerning where God is calling us. Where are we being asked to go with our life in the Holy Spirit. Scot said the Church universal should be praying that we all receive--collectively and individually--gifts of the Holy Spirit to be more effective at what God calls us to be. We're called to similar things: to share our faith with others, to live our faith the best we can every day. We're also called in a particular to be the best we can be with the blessings and talents God has given to us. Sometimes we're not fully aware how our talents can serve the Church more effectively, our families, our friends, our communities. Praying for the gifts of the Holy Spirit to understand how to utilize our gifts and if we're called to a specific ministry to be gifted even more to carry out that ministry. That's what we should be praying for as we come to Pentecost next Sunday. Fr. Mark said this Gospel gives us what it's all about too. That prayer, that hard work of doing Jesus' will, is about being glorified as Jesus was glorified. There's a beautiful reflection that Jesus gives us about being glorified by the Father. C.S. Lewis wrote a very good essay called ["The Weight of Glory"](http://www.verber.com/mark/xian/weight-of-glory.pdf) in which he tells us the end result is to be child-like in front of God, basking in God's praise. That is the result in that we can meet God face to face in heaven and God is pleased with us because of our good work. He says, "Come in my good and faithful servant." That's what glory is all about. That's why we work and why we pray: to be glorified as Jesus was glorified by the Father. Scot has heard some priests relate that people say, "Father, I'd really like to pray more. I just don't have time." And the priests then ask them how TV they watch, how much of the newspaper do they read. We can always make a decision to spend more time with God. 99.9% of us can find more time for prayer. Through the wisdom in prayer and the communion with our Lord, whatever problems we face, he'll help carry the burdens with us. We focus everyone listening to the show to focus more on prayer this week. Fr. Mark added that you don't start off as a mystic when you want to pray. You start off as a person who struggles with 10 minutes. So give God 10 minutes.

**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry **Today's guest(s):** Michael Coren, columnist, television host, and Catholic author * [Michael Coren's website](http://michaelcoren.com/) * "Why Catholics Are Right" * On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of this week, WQOM and the Station of the Cross network are holding their [2011 Spring Fund Drive](https://www.thestationofthecross.com/wqom-spring-fund-drive-2011.html). All donors over $30 will receive a Station of the Cross "Benefactor Card" and are eligible to win great daily and hourly prizes. Consequently, the recorded shows for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday as heard on this site and downloaded through iTunes will not include the Spring Fund Drive segments as heard live as they aired. **Today's topics:** Canadian author Michael Coren and his new book "Why Catholics Are Right" **A summary of today's show:** Michael Coren talks with Scot about the unique claims of the Catholic Church and why the Church is right about every major topic of morality facing our culture today, including contraception, marriage, abortion. Also, why much of what is said about the clergy sex abuse crisis goes beyond what really happened to advance an anti-Catholic agenda. **1st segment:** Scot welcomes Michael Coren to the show. He is the host of the "Michael Coren Show" on CTS in Canada and a syndicated columnist in many newspapers and bestselling author of 12 books, including his latest book, "Why Catholics Are Right". Michael said Random House is the publisher, it's available in most good bookstores, a few bad ones, and on Amazon.com. Scot said it's a provocative book, in which Michael takes on almost every attack that's leveled against the Church. Why did he decided to write it? Michael said he could have written the book years ago, because the Church has been the main target for public criticism for some years. He has four children and has seen what they've had to put up with and what he's had to put up with, the things said about the Church that would never be said about other denominations, other organizations. It's fine to criticize the Church for what it does. It's when people know nothing about Catholicism, what we believe and teach, and yet go after us on a daily basis. This ranges from what we hear on the street to alleged educated and informed civilized media, from comedy shows to PBS in-depth news shows. It's unfair. Rather than just running away and pretending, he decided to give it the title and give substance and explain for ordinary people--he's not a theologian--what the Church believes and respond to the attacks, which are always the same attacks over and over again. Intellectual and metaphorical information to attack back with. Scot quoted from the introduction: "I've seldom met someone who dislikes me because of my views on the saints and the papacy, but I've lost jobs in media because of my Catholic belief that, for example, life begins at conception and that marriage can only be between one man and one woman." Does that indicate that Catholic defense on those issues, particularly marriage, artificial contraception, abortion, and the life issues, is really what Catholics need to know to defend in the public square and at the dinner table and at the ball game. Michael said he think so, although one doesn't have to become boring about this. If you're watching a baseball game and suddenly bring up abortion, you're going to lose a lot of friends. What he's saying is that when it does come up, he doesn't people to just feel uncomfortable and change the subject. We do need to come back with a ready defense. What he meant in that passage is that because there are those who have no religious belief that think because we believe in the sanctity of unborn life and that marriage is one man and one woman it makes us fascists and unacceptable, so we need to know some of the arguments, which incidentally aren't really religious. The Catholic Church is the vehicle that represents natural law and logic and rational thought. Arguing for the unborn and that life begins at conception are scientific arguments. We just need to articulate them. Scot notes that Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver has an endorsement of the book on the cover. Why did Michael choose the title, "Why Catholics Are Right"? Is that tied to his adult conversion to Catholicism or because it's more provocative? He could have given it a softer title, but we've passed that now. It's not called "Why Catholics Are Right and Everyone Else Should Be Beaten Up." Michael's parents were not Catholic and most of his best friends are not Catholic, but if he believes something to be exclusively true, then obviously other alternatives must be wrong. Some of the kindest words said about the book have been from Jewish and Protestant readers. He had an email from someone who said, "I don't like you and the title of this book is absolutely wrong." Michael responded, "Yes, exactly. You think I'm wrong. I think I'm right. But why is it you think you're entitled to say this and I'm not." What he says in the book is that believes the Church was founded by Christ 2,000 years ago and is the most guaranteed way of us finding salvation and spending eternity with God. If he doesn't share that, it's like a man who's found a cure for cancer, but keeps it to himself. It is indeed a provocative title and it will grab people's attention, but we need to grab people's attention. We need people to realize that we're not this dark force that's always been on the wrong side throughout history. Scot responded that we certainly shouldn't be shy about the truth. We just launched the Catholics Come Home campaign in the Archdiocese of Boston and they have a tremendous commercial called "Epic", which talks about the Catholic Church's contributions to the world over its 2,000 years. Some folks criticized us for being too proud for showing all the things we've done and it's just conveying the facts. **2nd segment:** Scot asked Michael why he chose to have his first chapter address the clergy abuse crisis. Michael said because it's the elephant in the room. If he'd written chapters on history of the Church and other issues, he believes readers would have been waiting the whole time to get to that chapter and while they may have been influenced by other chapters, they could be turned back by this one. So he wanted to get it out of the way right off the bat. He took it head on. He didn't sugar coat it. Michael is the father of four children and non-Catholics think that as Catholics we're trying to hide things. It appalls him and rips away at his very being. But he's showing what *actually* happened, not what people like to think happened. He's not saying that because other people do it that it excuses this, but 2 percent of clergy at most were involved; the average victim was a 14-year-old boy so it's not really pedophilia (the vast majority of victims were boys from 12 to 16); the Church responded generally by saying we're going to move the priest, give him counseling and tell him he mustn't do it again. That seems severely inadequate, but this is what school boards were told at the time, what sports teams were told, what other churches were told. They're not criticized, but the Church is today. The Church is now the safest place for a young person to be today. The numbers now show there are 7 or 8 new cases per year across millions of people. Just look at school boards, just look at the New York City schools just last year. And often because of union influence, these teachers are keeping their jobs. It was horrible, but it says nothing about the Church. It says everything about human nature and why we need a Church. It has nothing to do with celibacy. A normal man who is deprived of a sexual relationship with a woman does not suddenly lust after a 14-year-old boy, he lusts after a grown woman. That is common sense and logic. If it was about celibacy in the priesthood, why would the numbers be higher in the Episcopalian church or in education. The family is still the most dangerous place for sexual abuse of children. Discuss it, criticize, condemn, but at the same time don't pretend the Church is this oasis. Anywhere there is a power dynamic between an adult and a young person, tragically, abuse will occur. Scot said we were touched by the abuse crisis particularly in the Archdiocese of Boston and the chapter helped him to understand what the abuse scandal is *not* about. Michael has already talked about the fact that it is not about pedophilia. It isn't about celibacy. It's also not about the all-male priesthood. Michael said that if a man feels he can no longer be celibate, it's not very difficult for him to dress in street clothes and go find the services of woman and pay for it. Michael said he's not trying to rude or crass, but that's what people do. For a priest to deny everything he ever believed and swore to stand for and abuse a young boy means he already has that perversion in his mind. Nor is he obviously a priest of any sort of standing because even if a man has that perversion as a temptation, to in no way try to resist it. As a married man, Michael is married to a very attractive woman, but it doesn't mean he doesn't notice other attractive women. But he's faithful to his wife because he's taken a vow to be faithful to one woman for the rest of his life. A priest swears to be celibate. It's a difference one or none. You don't have to be a priest, but if you are this is what's required of you. Those churches who have married clergy or ordain women have higher abuse rates. What happened here is that anti-Catholics and very liberal Catholics who were using this to try to change Church teaching. They seemed almost more interested in hurting the Church than in helping the victims. Michael met a victim of abuse who almost brought him to tears. He said to Michael: "If I leave the Church over this, I'm allowing this man to abuse me again. I would be leaving the Church because this evil man acted contrary to all that it teaches. I'm not going to let him do that." He thought it was a beautiful statement. Scot said he also debunks another myth related to the sex abuse crisis, that saying it's just because some homosexual men became priests is also a sweeping generalization. He says, "We should appreciate that sexuality and crime have no rigid connection. Those who abuse, lie, and exploit do so because of their immorality and not because of their sexual preference." Michael said they have gay marriage in Canada and he has taken a lot of shots because marriage is one man and one woman, but he said the vast majority of gay men are appalled at the idea of someone abusing a young boy. We've all probably met priests who are gay, but they are celibate. While the abusers were homosexual, they were homosexual criminals and perverts. It wasn't just homosexuality. We shouldn't alienate people unnecessarily. He wants to state the truth, but wants to make sure that we do it carefully because it's a nuanced position. **3rd segment:** Scot said Michael's book has a quote from former New York Mayor Ed Koch, in which he says the Left is using the abuse crisis to hammer the Church. Michael said fair-minded people outside the Church say the same, particularly in the Jewish community because many Jewish commentators have seen this directed against them. It's liberal Catholics often who are trying to us this to change Church teaching. Many attacks were against Pope Jon Paul. They weren't really about what's going on in the Church, but about bashing the Church and advancing their agenda like ordaining women. The Church can't ordain women; we're here to follow Scripture. In answer to those who say if there were women clergy there would be no abuse, Michael says look at the Episcopalians, look at school, look at the family. It has nothing to do with whether there are women around or not. These horrible abusers looked for the children they were going to abuse, vulnerable kids, unstable families. What Scot liked about the Koch quote was he said: "The reason, I believe, there are constant assaults is that there are many in the media--some Catholics as well as many in the public who object to and are incensed by positions the Church holds," including abortion, marriage, retention of celibacy rules, exclusion of women from the clergy, opposition to birth control measures, and opposition to civil divorce. Michael said we are the one institution standing up to these attacks of decadence and materialism. We're like a mirror held up for them to see their own reflection and they don't like so we have to be smashed. They don't attack some liberal, Protestant denomination. They attack the Roman Catholic Church because we're the people who don't change with the times. Why should we? Truth is truth and not mutable. We say some things are wrong and saying things are wrong in contemporary North America is abhorrent to people. Scot said Michael dedicated an entire chapter to Catholics and life and to the attacks against the Church on abortion. He debunks the myths that outlawing abortion would result in back-alley abortions and the notion that only women can comment on this issue. Michael said Planned Parenthood was founded by a racists who believed in eugenics and social engineering and racial superiority. He speaks on pro-life issues in Canada very often and he has the same arguments constantly. People say, "I wouldn't have an abortion myself but I'm not going to stop someone else." When you push them to answer why they wouldn't, eventually they say it's because it's a life. So then you say, so you won't kill an unborn child, but you won't stop someone else from doing it. Then they just scream and walk away. It's not a religious argument, it's a moral and scientific one. Life begins at conception with unique DNA. There's no other viable alternative to when life begins. A child cannot survive outside the womb, but even a fully born child would be dead if left to himself. Someone hit by a car would die if someone didn't help. An unborn child doesn't look completely like an adult, but a 5-year-old doesn't look like a 30-year-old. It's an irrelevant argument. It's a separate life. A woman has a right to choose all sorts of things, but she doesn't have the right to take an innocent life. Scot said the book takes the word "choice" and says that when there's a choice it's supposed to be a choice between two positive outcomes. In this case, there's really only one. When a rape occurs, we don't say he "chose" to rape. It's not a choice issue, it's a crime. We confuse a crime with a choice. To take a life is wrong. It also assumes there's just the woman involved. There are also three people: the woman, the father, and the unborn child. To choose to kill a child is not a choice at all. It's not the semantics that worry Michael so much, but the notion that choice is involved--and choice is everything in North America--is loaded political language. **4th segment:** In his chapter on Catholics and life, Michael talks about a lot of the practical decisions that are happening when women and the fathers of these babies choose to abort these children that through the ultrasound and other testing seem to have disabilities. As a Church and proponents of life, we need to stand for those babies and Scot knows of 5 friends of his who were encouraged to abort their kids because of the supposed disabilities that they could identify in the womb, and when the babies were born, they were fine. Michael said that even if they're not fine, if they don't live up to the standards of 21st-century expectations, they have a right to live. We live in a society where if you don't a hit album by the time you're 14 you're a failure and your movie career is finished by the time you're 16. We have to change the culture, not kill people. The man who discovered the likely gene for Down Syndrome--because we generally find Down Syndrome during pregnancy-- was someone who believed in life, who thought this was a good thing to prepare the way for them. Now it's used to abort Down Syndrome babies. We could have a world in which we could never see a Down Syndrome person ever again. Imagine how that makes people feel who are Down Syndrome people, their parents. A lot of children are aborted because of gender, race, and disability--black and brown, female, and handicapped. Those people who call themselves left-wing and progressive are obsessed with giving people the ability to kill the handicapped, the black, the brown, the female. That doesn't sound very progressive to Michael. Scot said Michael also takes issue with some of the points of view on population control, particularly in places like Africa for similar reasons. Michael said you often hear people say the world is overpopulated, but it's actually true that entire world's population could fit into Texas with room to spare. Africa is underpopulated, he said. He added that he lives in Canada where there are 30 million people in a vast country which could hold many more. The reason Africa has a problem of food and so on is because we maintain vicious dictators, we sell them arms, we engineer wars there. Communism has destroyed so much when it has a conquered in Africa. Asia has a large population, but if we look at India, it's economic growth rate is 12%. If only North America could have that rate. They have produced the largest middle class in the history of humanity and can feed their population several times over. That isn't an issue. In addition, most European countries are underpopulated. This is not a valid argument. It's a way to give moral substance to abortion. We're greedy in the West. We over-consume. We could easily feed the world's population. It amazes Michael that people who will weep over a puppy or kitten, will blithely support the killing of unborn babies. Scot said he liked how he indicated how the marriage of one man and one woman was deconstructed. Michael said that the four core qualifications for marriage have been: 1. Number (between two people) 2. Gender (between a man and a woman) 3. Age of consent 4. Not too close in terms of bloodlines That's been completely blurred in recent years. Michael says in the chapter, "Anyone who speaks of uncles, aunts, communities and villages raising children have no real understanding of family life. Single-parent families exist and sometimes it is excellent and obvious that the case that not every mother/father family is a success, but to consciously create unbalanced families in which children never enjoy the profound difference between man and woman, mother and father is dangerous social engineering." The social engineering is now underway in Canada and in many places in the United States, including Massachusetts. Michael said that in Canada, if you want to adopt a child and you're a Christian, your chances are very limited because one of the questions asked of you, generally is what would you teach your children about homosexuality. And if you say, to love everyone equally, but also to be aware of sin, there's no way you'll get a child. Michael said there are couples who adopt a child as a fashion statement. He's heard this from gay friends who condemn it because they know some of the people are adopting as a fashion statement. Meanwhile wonderful Christian people are being told they can't have a child because their beliefs are hateful. Catholic adoption agencies in Britain have closed down because they refuse to give children to gay couples. In Canada there are prosecutions under human rights legislation of people who speak out about this. It may not be the former Soviet Union, but it can be very delicate. Last week, they had a commentator on a major sports network in Canada who was fired because he opposed a hockey player who supported same-sex marriage. The company said it wasn't because of that, but all the evidence says that he was fired because he dared to say he disagreed with an athlete. It's not just same-sex marriage, it's the consequences. Now they say, We're not going to let you oppose it. We're going to punish you if you speak out. Scot said one of the major challenges to Catholics and non-Catholics who believe that marriage should be between one man and one woman is we're attacked with the label that we're homophobic and that the Church itself is homophobic. Michael said the term is meaningless because it literally means "disliking someone because they're like yourself." Anyone who hates another person because of their race or gender or sexuality is speaking against Catholic teaching. We do not believe that. There are gay Catholics who are heroes of the Church because they realized that this is not God's teaching. Though they may have this inclination but they accept that they will have to be celibate. He's not downplaying this. He's met those who have left that lifestyle and they can do it. He believes we can be more subtle than the Evangelical approach which is that you can change. Sometimes people can't change, but they can stop acting in a certain way. The Church is complex on this issue. It says that your loved and made in the image of God, but you're more than just your sexuality. For someone to have a relationship based on lust and against the natural law is wrong. It goes against the status quo. It's not about gay people so much. We're told whatever you want to do, its okay. You're fulfilled if you have fun. Go to any university and you'll find most of the perversity doesn't involved gay people. It's hypersexualized kids who because of the use of contraceptives and modern pressures society have turned young women into 19-year-old boys. **5th segment:** Contraception was the life issue where the avalanche of all these other life issues really started. Michael talks about that in his chapter on Catholics and life. He wrote: "It's hardly a surprise that subjects such as contraception and abortion lead to such anger and frustration because they are directly personal and they involve the most intimate and immediate forms of gratification and pleasure. ... The sexual fanatics are those who obsess about sex and believe it to be morally neutral and have no inherent value. The Catholic Church believes that sex is so wonderful that it contains values as well as virtues." Michael said what we call "The Pill" (which is a misnomer because pills make you better; the contraceptive pill alters the body chemistry with unknown consequences for women who starting taking it at 14 and 15 for their entire lives) has links to cancer and depression. Taking something that will stop the body from behaving naturally and normally, how can that be good for anyone? Until 1930 every major Protestant church disagreed with contraception as well and when these churches allowed this to happen it really signaled their decline. We do not believe as Catholics that every act of sex has to lead to a child. We believe that to aggressively prevent the possibility of life occurring is anti-Godly. The Catholic Church teaches a form of family planning that is extremely successful and that empowers the woman. Some women talk about women's liberation, but artificial contraception is really about guys who want something and can use contraception to get it more easily. Since we've had the complete availability of the Pill and the condom, if the argument is that people are happier now, it still wouldn't be right. But look at the statistics: Every year since the Pill and condoms have been easily available we've had increased numbers of STDs, so-called unwanted pregnancies, abortion, sex-linked depression and worse and worse. It was meant to be the dawn of a great new age, a new heaven, but it's become a new hell. Near the end of his book, Scot said Michael saved some of his concluding remarks for hypocrites. He wrote: "To give hypocrites their most descriptive titles--politicians, powerful people, and even ordinary men and women who claim to be Roman Catholic, but behave as if they weren't--being Catholic does have a culture context and while many people struggle and evolve in their Catholic faith, the mere fact of being born of Catholic parents in a Catholic country is not enough. Being Catholic is not the same as being Jewish, for example, in that Judaism has a secular aspect and there are Jewish people who describe themselves as atheists who are still to a large degree accepted within the Jewish community." It's very important to distinguish between Catholics who live their faith from those who claim they're Catholic but they're willing to run from Catholic values and beliefs when it's convenient for them. Michael joked that in Boston we've never had any politicians who've been hypocrites or anything. Michael said you don't have to be a Catholic, but if you're a Catholic, you have to be Catholic. These politicians who claim they are Catholic, but when it comes to politics they have to represent everyone, well they don't apply that to all sorts of issues. They speak from their own opinion over and over again. They're being dishonest. They think that if they're pro-life or speak up in favor of marriage, they careers won't advance. It's so often about sex. They don't say, "I can't represent Catholic teaching on the poor," but when it comes to sexuality they feel they can't offend people. Particularly on the abortion issue, they sellout. It's politicians, but it's other people as well. It's even more true in Canada than in the United States. Most of their prime ministers since the Second World War have been Roman Catholic and yet they have such an anti-Catholic political culture in that country. But in the US, when President Obama was asked about abortion, he said it's above my pay grade and he wasn't pushed on that. What he said was horrible. What he was really saying was that he didn't want to address the issue because it might lose him some votes. When Catholic politicians contradict Catholic teaching on fundamental Catholic issues should be denied the Eucharist, not as a punishment, but because their souls are in danger. If they are receiving the sacraments and they're not in full standing with the Church, if they're denying Catholic teaching, they're in real trouble. There are consequences to this. Any good pastor--a bishop or priest--would say, "I can't do this. You're welcome at Mass but it's something we need to talk about." But people are frightened, particularly in places with a large Catholic population, like Boston. "If I do that, he's a very popular figure, and I could be in trouble." The Roman Catholic hierarchy has some wonderful men in positions of influence, but for some time we've had those who want to be comfortable. Catholics haven't always been accepted in the US, but they want to be comfortable within the American culture. Well, Catholic truth is far more important than being accepted for a while in any culture. Scot said it seems like one of the purposes of the book was to start the conversation on a lot of these issues. Michael ends the book: "Catholicism is as important now as it every was and perhaps even more necessary in a world that appears to prefer confusion to clarity, and to long for feelings instead of facts. All sorts of people have interesting and valuable ideas and deserve to be heard. Catholics particularly so, because Catholics are right." Scot said he thinks that the Catholic perspective in the public square does need to be heard. Michael said there's so little alternative. We face enormous threats outside North America with jihadist Islam and inside with decadence. There is no other institution, no other ideology to save us. Secular humanism won't save us. Liberal ideology won't save us. The Roman Catholic Church has always had the answers, but we do need to articulate them in a way that people can understand and appreciate. He hopes he's done that in this book.

**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O'Connor **Today's guest(s):** George Weigel, Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center and biographer of Pope John Paul II * [Ethics and Public Policy Center](Ethics and Public Policy Center) * [Archive of George Weigel's syndicated columns](http://www.archden.org/index.cfm/ID/342) * On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of this week, WQOM and the Station of the Cross network are holding their [2011 Spring Fund Drive](https://www.thestationofthecross.com/wqom-spring-fund-drive-2011.html). All donors over $30 will receive a Station of the Cross "Benefactor Card" and are eligible to win great daily and hourly prizes. Consequently, the recorded shows for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday as heard on this site and downloaded through iTunes will not include the Spring Fund Drive segments as heard live as they aired. **Today's topics:** Pope Blessed John Paul II from the "inside" **A summary of today's show:** George Weigel discusses with Scot and Fr. Chris the interior life of Bl. John Paul II, his courage, his Christian discipleship, and devotion to both the Divine Mercy and the Blessed Mother, as well as three surprising things that George learned when writing about the Pope. **1st segment:** Scot welcomes Fr. Chris to the show. Fr. Chris has known George a long time, dating back to when he was studying philosophy at Catholic University of America. He was one of Fr. Chris' parishioners. George is an incredible supporter of the priesthood and how the Church is a gift to the whole world. Scot is excited to get his insights on last month's beatification. Fr. Chris said he has written the definitive biography of John Paul II, showing how the Pope was a son, a factory worker, a priest, a skier, and the full gamut of the man. Scot said this is the 60th broadcast of The Good Catholic Life, and he reflects on the gift that 24/7 Catholic is in the Archdiocese of Boston. Fr. Chris hears about it from parishioners, seminarians, and his fellow faculty at St. John's. He also hears from the men at Norfolk prison where he ministers that it is a great gift to them as well. Scot said since his early days at the Archdiocese in 2006, Cardinal Seán has always talked about evangelization, but in particular on the radio in many languages, including English, Spanish, and Portuguese. Scot thanked WQOM and the Station of the Cross to make English-language Catholic radio possible in Boston. Fr. Chris said the Church has a wonderful message to proclaim and we have to find new ways to reach people constantly, including those who might not be going to church now. Some of Scot's favorite segments are those where he talks to priests and seminarians and he's looking forward to next week's shows where he will talk with the newly ordained priests who were just ordained for the Archdiocese of Boston. The day after the beatification, the radio studio was dedicated to Blessed John Paul II and so he's happy to learn more about Pope John Paul from George Weigel. **2nd segment:** Scot and Fr. Chris welcome George Weigel to the show. He is the definitive biographer of Blessed Pope John Paul II. John Paul's beatification has been a prime topic of conversation on The Good Catholic Life. One of the statements John Paul made to George was that people often know him only from the "outside". He could truly only be understood from the inside. Scot asked George what are the central aspects of his interior life that defined him as a heroic Christian disciple? George said you saw some of them displayed on the tapestry that was unveiled on the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica during the beatification Mass. It was that twinkle in his eye, a wonderfully natural and warm human being, with a great natural capacity for love, which was amplified by supernatural charity. He had made himself into a kind of channel by which grace poured into the world. Literally millions if not tens of millions who saw and met him felt themselves ennobled by that. Another facet revealed in the tapestry is the white zuchetto (skullcap), which was slightly askew. He was a man of great humility who cared nothing for ecclesiastical finery, who was every bit as much at home in kayaking gear as in papal vestments, and yet who understood he was called to public role which led him to develop a great public voice. George has often said that John Paul II was not a man for whom raising his voice came naturally, but faced by Communist oppression he learned to raise his voice in a distinctive was as a Christian pastor. That's how he empowered people to take back control of their own lives from an oppressive regime under which they were living in Communist Poland. In terms of other human qualities, John Paul II was the most relentlessly curious man George has ever met. He was in no sense interested in looking in the rear-view mirror. He was always interested in looking forward to discern what the Holy Spirit was doing in the Church and the world. He had great pastoral instincts and remembered people and their problems over years and decades. His remarkable energy came out of his intense prayer life. On great public occasions, he would almost withdraw into himself to charge his spiritual batteries, by the power of his own distinctive dialogue with the Lord. The work of the grace of God was palpable in him, and that's why 1.5 million people came to Rome on May 1, to touch that again. Fr. Chris said speaking of those 1.5 million people, George has spent many a summer in Poland doing research for his book, educating the young of America and Europe, about John Paul II and Catholic social teaching. What was the sense from the Polish people who were present for this great event? George said this was in some sense a great validation of the Polish experience in the 20th century, which was very difficult, and in many Poles' minds was redeemed by having raised up this great son of Poland who became such an extraordinary figure in the Church and the world. The challenge for the Church in Poland today is to start looking forward. George published a piece in a Polish magazine the week after the beatification in which he suggested it is now time to internalize the teaching of John Paul II and to move forward and look forward, rather than look backward over their shoulders at this great figure. That's a good message for the Church in the US as well. There are many people who take daily inspiration from John Paul. What he would want us to do is to not look back, but ahead. **3rd segment:** Scot said one of Pope John Paul's virtues was that of courage and his first words as Pope were "Be not afraid." Where did his courage come from? Was it the way his father raised him? The circumstances he dealt with early in life? His deep prayer life? George said it's all of the above. One learns the virtues by imitating virtuous people and he was surrounded by men and women of courage. He had to manifest that courage during the Nazi occupation of Poland. But the courage he exhibited as Pope--and not just the courage to come back from an assassination attempt or to face the drumbeat of dissension and misapprehension, including from inside the Church--the courage to take the Gospel into the world. It took enormous courage to launch the World Youth Days. When he was elected Pope in 1978, 90% of bishops in the developed world were convinced that there was no sense speaking to young people. They lived on a different planet. John Paul believed you could take the Gospel to them. It took courage to take the Gospel to Central and South American in the 1980s, when it was riven by all sorts of false gospels, including liberation theology and national-security states. It took great courage to announce and see through the Great Jubilee of 2000, which most of the Church's leadership was no interested in 1994. He had the insight and courage to see this as absolutely necessary. That's the courage that comes on the far side of Calvary, comes after Good Friday when the answer is given on Easter. It comes through the long pilgrimage of Christian conversion, through the experience of the Cross. It allows one to live not simply without fear, but beyond fear. Fr. Chris said part of the secular media when John Paul was ailing toward the end kept saying that he should retire. Instead he stayed on and taught us a great deal about suffering and death. What would be the central messages from his remaining on as Pope? George said he wouldn't limit that to the secular media. Those at Commonweal, the National Catholic Reporter, and the Tablet were the echo chamber for the ambient culture and were eager to get rid of this guy that they didn't much like themselves. He had a wiser view, that this was an office of paternity and as long as he could exercise that in a distinctive way that's what he was called to do. What he did over the last two months is what George called in his book "The End and the Beginning" the last encyclical. It was his last great teaching moment. He led the world in the great experience of the mystery of the suffering and death of Christ. He showed how suffering can be ennobled by its conformity to the Cross. That was his last great priestly effort and teaching moment. The Church and the world are all the richer for it. There was a sense in Rome on May 1 of people saying thank you for many things, but one of them was that period. Thank you for lifting up the inalienable dignity of the human person. Thank you for confronting the notion that suffering has no meaning. It was a remarkable last pouring out of a priest's self and doing what priests do. **4th segment:** In his syndicated column, George said we can lose the sense that saints are people like us, who by the grace of God lived lives of heroic virtue, a truth of the faith which John Paul II never ceased to remind us. Then he hoped that the Catholic community would remember two things about him: First, that he was a radically converted Christian and disciple, and second, how fond he was of the Divine Mercy devotion. George said it's important to remember that while this man was someone richly given a wide range of natural gifts and while he was also given genuine mystical gifts, none of this would have been received had he not as a young adult made the fundamental decision to pour out his life in service to the truth that Jesus Christ is the answer to the question that is every human life. He was so seized by the truth of God in Christ as a young man, that he decided to pour out his life in that and everything he did from then on as a young priest, as a young scholar, university chaplain, philosopher, literary man, a bishop, father of the Second Vatican Council, statesman, and a Pope was done as a consequence of that discipleship. That's what made all that possible. And while most of the rest of us are not going to be as gifted naturally and even supernaturally, at least in the mystical sense of that, we have all been baptized in the possibility of radical discipleship. That's the point of connection between his life and ours. As far as Divine Mercy goes, John Paul II had a powerful existential sense of the terrible tears that had been torn in the moral fabric of humanity during the 20th century by grotesque and murderous ideologies, by World wars, by failure to understand the sanctity of the human person. All of it was like shredding a great tapestry. That's why he thought that spreading the devotion to Divine Mercy was not a gift for Poland in the mid-1930s alone. It was a gift *through* Poland to the rest of the world. This was the face of God that a guilt-ridden world most needed to see. It needed to see and experience the possibility of repentance, confession, and forgiveness. And that's why he was right to do so. Fr. Chris said both of the biographies are wonderful books. He asked how it is that he came to write them. George said the simple answer is that he decided to do it. In the spring of 1995, he proposed the possibility of a full-scale biography of the Pope to various people in the Holy See. John Paul II indicated in December that he thought it would be a good idea. George was following his own vocational sense, that it needed to be done, that he had a distinctive preparation for it, both in terms of experience and academic training. And it was a great ride for 15 years. He's very grateful for being given the opportunity to do this. Scot asked if he was surprised that the Holy Father wanted a definitive biography written about him and by an American versus by a Pole. George said he didn't think anyone thought it would be definitive until he delivered it. Other people had made attempts and there was a lot of frustration with them, that they just didn't get John Paul. A criticism of Tad Szulc's biography was that it was like someone writing a biography of Michael Jordan who didn't like basketball. You'll get something, but not going to get most of it. George thinks John Paul was interested in having the story told right and he was happy to be able to do it. Fr. Chris asked what surprised him the most in doing the research and writing the books that he never knew before. George said in the newer book, "The End and the Beginning", there was a treasure trove of materials from the Communist secret police that had not been available when researching the first book "Witness to Hope." Those files tell a remarkable story of the Communist war against John Paul II going back 40 years. That's all new material in English. In the broader scheme, the three things he really had no idea of going into the project in 1995 were (1) the importance of his father in his life, (2) the importance of this network of young lay friends that began to form around him in the late 1940s in the evolution of his priesthood and bishopric, people remained friends with him until the end of his life, and (3) the recognition of the absolute centrality of his experience in the Second World War in his life. That was the vocational and human crucible out of which this remarkable personality was formed. You can't get at Wojtyla unless you get at the Polish experience during the Second World War. **5th segment:** Scot recalled the virtues imparted to Karol Wojtyla by his father that stayed with him throughout his life. He asked George about some of Karol's father's virtues and whether he believed there might be a cause for canonization open for him someday. George said he thinks it would be difficult to find records for that now and there's been no cult that he's aware. We don't have beatify or canonize people to say that they are great souls. He thinks John Paul's father was manifestly a great-souled man. The most important thing that young Karol learned from elder Karol is that prayerfulness and manliness go together. They are not antinomies and not opposites. You're not wimpish when you get on your knees to pray or confess. You grow in humanity and your manliness. That and the integrity of the man in raising him. Fr. Chris noted that John Paul's mother died at a young age and that he had a great love for the Blessed Mother. He has been impressed by the great devotion to her by John Paul and the whole Polish people themselves. George said in John Paul's case, while deeply appreciating simple Marian piety, he had a very sophisticated Marian piety. Attempts by various people to read this psychoanalytically, as if his Marian devotion was some sort of substitute for his mother are ridiculous. To try to read his Marian piety as if it's the same as peasants coming to Czestochowa is equally ridiculous. He had a very theologically sophisticated view of Mary's role in the economy of salvation. He learned some of this from the 17th-century French theologian St. Louis de Montfort and a lot of it from Hans Urs von Balthazar, the 20th century Swiss theologian, about Mary's discipleship being the paradigm of all Christian discipleship. That's what John Paul as Pope proposed to the world. That's why he wanted to give us the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary, to anchor Marian piety ever more securely in the biblical tradition of the Church and in Christology. Mary's role in the Church is to point us to her Son and in pointing us to her Son, she points us to the Trinity. She's always pointing beyond herself: "Do whatever He tells you" are perhaps not accidentally the last recorded words of our Lady in the New Testament. Fr. Chris said George is working on a new book, "The Station-Churches of Rome." He asked how it's coming and when expects it come out. George said he has just come back from two months in Rome making the entire station-church pilgrimage with his son Stephen and a colleague, Elizabeth Lev, daughter of Mary Ann Glendon, a familiar figure in New England. The book will be out in time for Lent 2013. It will include some marvelous photographs of the station-churches in Rome taken by Stephen; an introduction to the art and architecture of each of these churches, many of which are largely unknown and some of which are simply fabulous; and a commentary on the liturgical texts of the day, both Mass and the Office of Readings of the Liturgy of the Hours. The book will be a way to make the Roman station-church pilgrimage of Lent and Easter Octave in the comfort of your home. Scot said that it's a devotion that the North American College seminarians and priests like to get up for at a very cold 5:30am to get to the station-churches and it's a wonderful way to pray through the season of Lent. Scot thanked George for being on the show. Scot then said to Fr. Chris that it was wonderful to hear about Bl. John Paul II from someone who knows him so well. New today we are starting a new email list that will send a daily email with shownotes and a link to the show to subscribers. Go to the TheGoodCatholicLife.com and click on the link to subscribe or email us at [email protected]. The email will go out about 5:15 or 5:30pm each day.

**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O'Connor **Today's guest(s):** Janet Benestad, Secretary for Faith Formation and Evangelization of the Archdiocese of Boston * ["Go and Make Disciples: A National Plan and Strategy for Catholic Evangelization in the United States" (USCCB Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis](http://www.usccb.org/evangelization/goandmake/eng.shtml) * []() **Today's topics:** Evangelization as an inward and outward activity **A summary of today's show:** Scot and Fr. Chris talk to Janet Benestad about evangelization and the strategy put forward by the US bishops in their document "Go and Make Disciples". **1st segment:** Scot welcomes Fr. Chris back to the show. Last Wednesday, Fr. Chris helped with the graduation of the Master of Arts in Ministry program. There were 16 graduates. Bishop Dooher gave the commencement address and he talked about evangelization. He told them that what they learned there, they now have to spread to others. Some of them are working in parishes, one is a Boston Symphony Orchestra member, and another is a chemist. It shows that the work will be done not just in parishes but in homes and places of work. One of the 16 is the hundredth graduate of the program. Laypeople and deacons formed at the heart of the Church. Fr. Chris has also been with the men at Norfolk state prison, who are always listening to the show. Fr. Chris celebrates Mass. Sometimes he will also speak afterward. He will also hear confessions. Scot said there is now a Boston Bruins flag flying outside the Pastoral Center today in honor of the Bruins playing in the Stanley Cup finals against the Vancouver Canucks. Walking through Boston yesterday, he saw a Bruins flag at City Hall and the State House, so he's happy to see it here. Fr. Bryan Parrish, who works in the Pastoral Center, said the flag was donated by one of his parishioners. It's a great time to be a Boston sports fan. Scot pointed out that the flag flies between the Vatican flag and the US flag, temporarily replacing the Massachusetts state flag. **2nd segment:** Scot and Fr. Chris welcome Janet to the program. Janet has been at the archdiocese for several years and before that in the Diocese of Scranton. She started in Scranton 12 years ago in a similar role, overseeing religious education, youth and young adult ministry, prison ministry, hospital ministry, cultural diversity, and more. Her secretariat was reconstituted prior to her joining her team because Cardinal Seán had wanted a new focus on evangelization and faith formation. Janet said both parts are vitally connected. Faith formation helps people come to know Jesus in a systematic, while evangelization is a broader effort. It helps people understand that everything they do is connected in some way to the love of God. Fr. Chris said the great gift of the Eucharist is God's abiding presence. In coming to Eucharist and hearing the Word of God proclaimed we are sustained. We can't give what we don't have and how can we share if we don't know Jesus. Evangelization often has a sour taste in the mouth in our culture. It's too often described as proselytization, which is forcing the faith on others or manipulating. Janet said to be a witness is to not engage in propaganda, but to be a living mystery, to live in such a way that life would not make sense if God did not exist. It is the message of Jesus Christ, given in the Gospel and preached with conviction and all of the power of the Holy Spirit. Scot said Henri Nouwen's definition is "one beggar leading another beggar to the bread." The person who evangelizes doesn't have all the "food", all the answers, but knows the way. You just have to lead people to Christ. Fr. Chris said it complements the idea of the Body of Christ, that there's no one person who can communicate all of the faith to another. This is why we have all the saints, who shared the faith in their own way, just as we do. The word some basic words in our faith. Evangelium means Good News in Latin. We are passing on the Good News handed to us by the Apostles and disciples and successive generations. Janet said in the early days of the Church there were no seminaries, no parochial schools, no Catholic colleges, no CCD. The faith was alive in the people who had experienced it directly from Jesus or the Apostles. We don't keep good news about movies or restaurants or the like to ourselves, but we hesitate to share the most important good news. The Holy Spirit came upon the Apostles on Pentecost and they couldn't help but share the Good News, despite the fear they had been under before that. Scot said if we think we're not capable of being evangelizers, if we need more courage or understanding, we can pray to the Holy Spirit for those gifts. Fr. Chris said another image is the lamplighter. The lamplighter lights one lamppost at a time and soon the whole street is alight. We can be like the lamplighter to our family and friends. About 20 years ago the US Bishops Conference issued a document on evangelization. It says that evangelization is both inward and outward. Janet said in order to evangelize one has to grow deeper in the faith, to pray, to become active in the community. That's the first step of evangelization. The document says one reason for evangelization is so that people can experience the grandeur with which they are made. Fr. Chris quoted John XXIII: The goal for every person is to get to heaven and bring as many people with us as we can. We have to become holy ourselves. People should know we are Christians as soon as they interact with us. Ghandi said he would become a Christian if he ever met one. Scot said God created each of us with a unique set of gifts. Every person ever created has a unique set of gifts and God has an eternal destiny and a purpose for using those gifts. By being connected with that, we will increase our sense of joy and love in this life and the next. **3rd segment:** We witness to Christ by our actions, by willing to talk about it in any way we know, and by asking or inviting people to join with us in our faith. Scot said the outward direction of evangelization comes the great commission of Jesus: Go and make disciples of all nations. This is the name of this document. Janet quoted Fr. Mark O'Connell in a homily saying to children that they can be evangelists. He told them that when they go to school on Monday and talk about their weekends, tell others they went to church. Everyone is called to evangelize. Every person has a story of faith. Tell that story. Articulate it as best you can and then live it in everything you do. Fr. Chris added that forgiveness is an important element. When we forgive it's a response to God's forgiveness for us. All of the components of our live are opportunities to evangelize. How many times is there an opportunity to show God's love and mercy to people we encounter every day. Scot said people tell him they don't evangelize because they fear or have received a hostile reaction. Certainly nearly everyone who has evangelized has received such a reaction at one time or another, even Jesus. Fr. Chris said, looking at TV, people have no problem exposing the craziest, most intimate details of their lives, yet we fear to reveal who we really are. Pope Benedict XVI has established a new pontifical council to promote evangelization. For many years, the Church saw evangelization as going to foreign lands that have not heard the Gospel, but today we have to re-evangelize ourselves. Pope Benedict says every Catholic should buy a catechism and know what it says. The Pope has said we need to use all the forms of media to get the message out. Then build on the things that have worked to spread the good news. Scot asked Janet for ideas to overcome fear of hostility to our witness. First, remember it's not an argument or debate. Lead people to love. Second, listen first before speaking and preach through the actions of your love and concern. When a person leaves the Church, our concern for them does not end at the church door. Our concern for them lasts beyond their hostility. It can be a kind word or gesture and care and charity. Recognize that the person's soul is in a process of conversion. Scot had interviewed Fr. John Corapi and was struck by the humber of men who had come back to their faith because of his talks. Fr. Corapi said it's up to the Holy Spirit to convert. Our job is to invite. Second, pray for the person we're inviting and then praying after the invitation. Third, connect them as much as possible to the Church. Don't stop trying, but don't force ourselves on them. Let them know we really care for them, we want what's best, and we're not pushy. * [Fr. John Corapi interview in The Boston Pilot, 2/18/11](http://www.pilotcatholicnews.com/article.asp?ID=12973) Fr. Chris said we have to be able to say, "this is why my faith is so important to me." Be ready to give a defense of our faith in three sentences. What's essential about my faith? Why is it important to me? Scot said God's plan of salvation includes us being a vessel of reconciliation and invitation. Men who think about the priesthood often think of all their flaws that would prevent them from being a good priest. Yet it's our flaws which others could see in us which makes our faith seem accessible. God chooses the weak and makes them strong. **4th segment:** There were several goals in the USCCB document: 1. To bring about in all Catholics such an enthusiasm for their faith that, in living their faith in Jesus, they freely share it with others 2. To invite all people in the United States, whatever their social or cultural background, to hear the message of salvation in Jesus Christ so they may come to join us in the fullness of the Catholic faith. 3. To foster gospel values in our society, promoting the dignity of the human person, the importance of the family, and the common good of our society, so that our nation may continue to be transformed by the saving power of Jesus Christ The first goal includes many programs of renewal and conversion, particularly our rite of Christian initiation programs. Pastors have been telling Janet that people in the parishes are growing deeper in their faith as a result of Catholics Come Home. Scot said this document does a great job at explaining what evangelization in the big picture, to express the goals, and then to get very granular in giving tactics for how every parish and family can experience this renewal. 1. To foster an experience of conversion and renewal in the heart of every believer, leading to a more active living of Catholic life 2. To foster an experience of conversion and renewal in every parish 3. To make the evangelizing dimension of Sunday Eucharist more explicit 4. To foster an appreciation of the presence of Christ in the Eucharist and of all the sacraments, the sacred signs of our Catholic life 5. To foster a greater appreciation of the power of God's Word in our worship 6. To foster an even deeper sense of prayer among our Catholic people 7. To foster a renewed understanding of the faith among Catholics 8. To foster a sense of discipleship among Catholic adults and children 9. To foster active and personal religious experience through participation in small-group and other communal experiences in which the Good News is shared, experienced, and applied to daily life 10. To foster a sense of the domestic church within households in which families, individuals, and groups reside 11. To promote and develop a spirituality for the workplace 12. To foster greater appreciation of cultural and ethnic spirituality Many of these have to do with the Sunday Mass. Fr. Chris said the Mass is one of the principle places we go to be renewed with the Lord. The document talks about encouraging Eucharistic adoration and about sacramental preparation. The Church re-introduces us to our faith in the preparation, even if we've baptized other children already, for example. Scot focused on the suggestions for the domestic church. * cultivation of daily prayer and times of prayer in the home; * establishment of times of family sharing; * home-based rituals shaped by the liturgical year; * formation of groups of parents, families, and households to develop spirituality in the home; and * adaptation of new and meaningful faith practices within the family in view of the decline of family prayer. Janet said some people don't quite know how to live the Christian faith together with their family. Start by praying together as a married couple. Then when children come, pray with them, and get them used to the idea that spiritual life is not something we do in private, but which we do as a community. Scot's brother, Fr. Roger Landry, says his best seminary was the domestic church of his home where he learned so much of his faith. Fr. Chris said he heard about kids who write to the bishop about their confirmation sponsors and how often it's someone in their lives who have witnessed to their faith. It's all the little moments of passing on the faith, taking the opportunities that are there. It takes effort to carve out time for prayer, but how will we know Jesus if we don't. The second goal of the document is "To invite all people in the United States, whatever their social or cultural background, to hear the message of salvation in Jesus Christ so they may come to join us in the fullness of the Catholic faith." Some of the strategies are: 1. To make every Catholic institution, especially our parishes, more welcoming 2. To help every Catholic feel comfortable about sharing his or her faith and inviting people to discover Christ in our Catholic family of believers 3. To develop within families and households the capacity to share the Gospel 4. To equip and empower our active Catholic members to exercise their baptismal call to evangelize 5. To use special times in parish and family life to invite people to faith 6. To cultivate an active core of the baptized to serve as ministers of evangelization in their parishes, dioceses, neighborhoods, workplaces, and homes 7. To effectively invite people to our Church 8. To design programs of outreach for those who have ceased being active in the Church 9. To design programs that reach out in particular ways to those who do not participate in a church community or who seek the fullness of faith Janet said many of our parishes have become more welcoming through Catholics Come Home, creating ministries of welcoming, putting explanatory and welcoming materials in the pews, making the churches more accessible to those who might be uneasy about coming. As institutions become more aware of their Catholic identity, they become better witnesses to a culture that is somewhat hostile to them. Scot said many Catholics leave the Church for evangelical churches because they are welcomed there, by joyful people. There are too many Catholic parishes where someone could attend every week and no one would ever know their name or speak to them. Fr. Chris noted that the Pastoral Center is open every weekday for Mass at noon and on Thursdays for confessions, which is welcoming. Some of the strategies of the third goal are: 1. To involve parishes and local service groups in the needs of their neighborhood 2. To foster the importance of the family 3. To develop groups to explore issues of the workplace and lay spirituality 4. To encourage Catholic witness in the arts and in the American intellectual community 5. To involve every Catholic, on different levels, in areas of public policy 6. To involve the Catholic Church, on every level, in the media 7. To involve Catholics, at every level, in questions of economic systems The Church has a lot to offer the culture. Janet said the document is forward-looking on Catholic social teaching. We respect the dignity of the human person which is a fundamental teaching of our faith. Every Catholic is called to bring to every part of their life the mindset of a Catholic, the Christian idea of society founded for the common good. Fr. Chris recalled Pope Benedict saying even for someone who doesn't believe, it's better to follow the Ten Commandments because everyone's rights will be protected. Scot said the third goal encompasses the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.

**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry **Today's guest(s):** Fr. Stephen Rock, pastor of St. Agnes Parish in Reading; Beirne Lovely, General Counsel for the Archdiocese of Boston; Fr. Frank Pavone, Director of Priests for Life; Bill Wise, parishioner at St. Paul Parish in Hingham * [Archdiocese of the Military Services, USA](http://www.milarch.org/site/c.dwJXKgOUJiIaG/b.6287817/k.3DFD/Home__Archdiocese_for_the_Military.htm) **Today's topics:** Memorial Day remembrances by a Vietnam veteran and a former Navy chaplain; Priests for Life **A summary of today's show:** On Memorial Day, Scot talks with Beirne Lovely about his experience as a Marine serving in Vietnam and as a veteran on Memorial Day; with Fr. Frank Pavone about the ministry of Priests for Life and this weekend's appearance at St. Paul, Hingham; and Fr. Stephen Rock, a 34-year Navy chaplain and now pastor of St. Agnes, Reading. **1st segment:** Scot welcomes Beirne Lovely, general counsel for the archdiocese and a former Marine, to the show. Scot asked him about his military service. He was commissioned as a Marine officer directly from Dartmouth College in 1967, followed by six months in Marine officer training, and then directly to Vietnam. He was stationed there for 13 months, all of 1968, which was one of the worst years of the war, including the [Tet Offensive](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tet_Offensive). He spent his whole tour up north, including a [Khe Sanh](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Khe_Sanh) and the [DMZ](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnamese_Demilitarized_Zone). He was very close to the North Vietnamese border, serving as a platoon commander in an infantry company. He became a company commander when his company commander was killed. Scot said his perception of the Marines is that they are the ones who go in first, taking on the most difficult and most life-threatening assignments. Beirne said that was true. The Marine Corps had responsibility for the northern region of South Vietnam so they primarily were facing uniformed, trained [North Vietnamese Army](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_People%27s_Army) soldiers rather than [Viet Cong](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viet_Cong) guerillas, so that's a fair statement. Beirne has been out of active duty with the Marines for 40 years now. What's it like to be a veteran on Memorial Day, remembering all those who have served and given their lives? Beirne said he lost a lot of friends in Vietnams. He arrived in Vietnam on an airplane with about 40 infantry Second Lieutenants and of those about half were killed and virtually all of the rest were wounded, so he has a special memory of service. He spends Memorial Day with other veterans in his hometown of Milton, which has services of recognition of veterans. He's spoken at a number of memorial services. He stays in touch with them year-round. He belongs to a number of veteran organizations to gather and recall the services of others. It's a difficult day in some respects because it reminds him of the friends he's lost as well as the people who served with and under him who were killed. He remains close to a small cadre of friends who he survived with and periodically they gather. Every year they celebrate the Marine Corps birthday on November 10. Boston is famous for its [Marine Corps birthday recognition](http://www.necn.com/11/10/10/US-Marine-Corps-turns-235/landing_newengland.html?blockID=349493&feedID=4206). They have a Marine Corps luncheon with over 2000 at the Hynes Convention Center. It's the biggest gathering of Marines in the country and often the [Commandant](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commandant_of_the_Marine_Corps) or the assistant commandant come and speak. They have a number of Medal of Honor winners who are present. Msgr. John McDonough, a priest of Boston and former Chief of Chaplains for the Air Force (who Scot and Beirne jokingly call "the General") and Fr. Rich Erikson, the vicar general of the Archdiocese and reserve Air Force chaplain, have attended the last couple of years with Beirne. Scot asked Beirne about the message he often delivers about the debt we all owe to those who are willing to give their lives in service to their country, particularly those who have lost their lives. The principle message he tries to send is one of respect and thanks and admiration for those who have served. This past week was recently Armed Forces Day, which honors everyone, living and dead, who have served. Memorial Day is a special time to remember those who have given the ultimate sacrifice. When he talks to young people, many of them have no idea of this reality and have not experienced this and hopefully never will. But given Iraq and Afghanistan, people are more cognizant. He tries to make them understand that people can have a special calling and sometimes we have to do what we don't like to do. No one likes war, but someone has to fight it. Scot said Beirne served in a time when the respect for the military was low during the War in Vietnam. Beirne said during his last parade at Dartmouth College before graduating, they had to move to the stadium because there were so many protesters. He remembers having eggs thrown at him. Coming back from Vietnam, he recalls spitting at him or looking the other way or yelling at him. Quite a different experience than what troops experience today. He doesn't hesitate to say that he thinks Vietnam was a mistake, but when one is serving in the Armed Forces, you don't challenge your superiors, from the President on down. Scot said we may face some of the same issues today where some don't agree with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which can lead to an attitude towards men and women in uniform. It seems to have gotten better, but Scot's not sure that we still show proper appreciation for those who offer their lives in protection of our country. What's Beirne's sense of how we as a society, particularly in Massachusetts, appreciate our servicemen and women? He thinks we're getting much better at it. He thinks veterans are being accorded the respect that they're due. It's painful for him to watch. He wasn't a big supporter of what we did in Iraq or the strategy in Afghanistan. It's difficult to conceive how the war will be "won". He has friends, whose children are in the service and going back for their third, fourth, or even fifth tours. In a sense, you're waiting for the bubble to burst. Vietnam was somewhat similar. Beirne was at Khe Sanh for 100 days. It was a famous base in a valley that was ill-situated. He remembers taking patrols out every day for 100 days and running into small-arms contact every day without exception and forcing his troops to walk through the densest of brush. Today, the young people are forced to drive on roads which they don't have complete control over and there's no way to combat the improved explosive devices (IED). One of Beirne's jobs, his hardest, was when he came back from Vietnam. He was assigned to Newport naval base as executive officer of the Marine barracks over a couple hundred Marines. His job every fourth day was to make casualty calls to families of Marines who had lost a loved one. He probably did 100 of those over 3-1/2 years. That was the most painful task. There's nothing worse than knocking on the front the door and telling a mother her son is dead. Scot said, they know as soon as they see you. It's a very quick notification in the sense that you have to get it out: "Mr Lovely, I'm sorry to tell you that your son, Charles, was killed two days ago in the Republic of Vietnam serving his country." It just doesn't get any worse than that. After the notification it was his job to follow through and handle the funeral and coordinate the military honors at the funeral. Of all the things that bring him tears, he's not ashamed to say it, is thinking about those people who gave their lives. Scot said, both for our Catholic and non-Catholic listeners, Memorial Day takes on an air of "what cookout are you going to?" using the language of celebration, not thinking of how difficult it is for someone who's made 100 of those calls and lost so many friends. What suggestion does Beirne have for everyone, but especially Catholics? Beirne said he was not the most devout and faithful Catholic when he finished college. But he remembers in Vietnam the role of the chaplain. At Khe Sanh, you had to stay in a trench all the time. They were taking 2,500 rounds per day of heavy artillery. These chaplains were notoriously visible, which gave him a great deal of comfort. His message to people is to pause some time during the day to think about those who have worn the uniform and have made the ultimate sacrifice for their God and their country from their perspective. Scot would add to that to pray for the souls of the faithful departed, particularly those who have served in the military. Something we're very good at in the Church is remembering those who have gone before us. If you happen to encounter someone you know has served, thank them for their service, however short or long it is. **2nd segment:** Scot welcomes Bill Wise and Fr. Frank Pavone to show. Scot asked Fr. Frank to describe Priests for Life's ministries. He said this is the group's 20th year. They help priests to be more clear, articulate, and effective in proclaiming the Gospel of Life, counseling those who may be tempted to abort, helping those who have had abortions to find forgiveness and peace. * [Priests for Life](http://www.priestsforlife.org/) Their ministry goes beyond what priests are called to do. Priests for Life ministers to the whole pro-life movement, training laypeople in the spirituality of being pro-life, how to defend life; ministering directly to those who've had abortions, via Rachel's Vineyard; operating the Silent No More campaign, in which men and women who've lost children to abortion share their testimony publicly; reaching out to people to exercise their political responsibilities consistent with the Church's teachings; reaching out to African-Americans, led by Dr. Alveda King, niece of Dr. Martin Luther King; and more. * [Missionaries of the Gospel of Life](http://www.priestsforlife.org/missionary/) * [Rachel's Vineyard](http://www.rachelsvineyard.org/) * [Silent No More Awareness campaign](http://www.silentnomoreawareness.org/) * [African-American Outreach](http://www.priestsforlife.org/africanamerican/) * [Fr. Frank Pavone on Twitter](http://twitter.com/frfrankpavone) * [Priests for Life on Facebook](http://www.facebook.com/ProLifePage) * [Fr. Pavone's channel on YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/frfrankpavone) Scot asked Fr. Frank what image does he hope that Catholics in the pro-life movement portray. He said the secular media is always trying to portray the extremists, but that isn't what we are as Catholics. Fr. Frank points out that this is a movement that is positive and one of inclusion. It goes against the "[Roe v. Wade](http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0410_0113_ZS.html)" decision, which said that the word "person" does not include the unborn. The pro-life view has open arms, welcoming and nurturing all human life. We say to the society, what Jesus says to us: "I am with you." I do not condemn you. I want to help you to say yes to life, to find solutions to your problems. Scot recalled that Marianne Luthin, pro-life director for the Archdiocese, [described](http://www.thegoodcatholiclife.com/2011/03/18/program-0008-for-friday-march-18-2011/) Boston's Project Rachel retreats and how they bring healing to women who've suffered abortion. He said the Rachel's Vineyard ministry does the same thing. It's important for us to share that it's important to help people both before and after abortion. Fr. Frank said the pro-life movement is a pro-woman movement. Pope John Paul said the pro-life stance is a stance in solidarity with the woman. We say that very clearly. We don't say, Let's love the baby and forget about the mother. They sometimes counsel women who've had as many as 25 abortions. Someone who's gone through something like that and is reconciled to the Church, then other people can say that there's hope for them, even for those involved in other sins. Scot said St. Paul's parish has asked Fr. Frank to speak at all the Masses and lead an evening discussion on June 4 and 5. Bill Wise said he and his wife attended a conference of Catholic CEOs in Naples, Florida, through [Legatus](http://www.legatus.org/). He and his wife knew Fr. Frank from other events, including the National Prayer Breakfast in DC. Fr. Frank had said at the time that he'd met Cardinal Seán last January and how he was so supportive of his ministries. Bill said he was moved by the Holy Spirit to invite Fr. Frank to Hingham. Fr. James Rafferty, the pastor of the parish, graciously extended his invitation and the pro-life committee organized the event. * [St. Paul Parish, Hingham](http://www.stpaulhingham.net/) Fr. Frank was grateful for the invitation and that there was a weekend relatively soon to come visit. He said anyone who wants him or any of the priests who work with him to visit their parish are welcome to contact Priests for Life. There are six priests from various parts of the country who do this work full-time. On Saturday, June 4, 7pm-9pm, Fr. Frank will give an encouragement and signs of progress and victory in the pro-life movement together with a look forward to some key projects and opportunities in the months to come. Then he will listen to the people to hear their impressions, their questions, their concerns. He wants them to feel they got exactly what they need to take the next steps in their ministry. Fr. Frank said it's been at least five years since he's been in the Boston area. Scot asked Bill how many people can be accommodated at St. Paul's for this gathering. Bill said they are prepared to welcome anyone who comes. He said they will see a good representation of the youth of the parish on Saturday night as well. Fr. Frank will be preaching at the 4pm vigil Mass on Saturday and then at the 7am, 9am, and 11am Masses on Sunday. The Saturday night gathering will be tentatively in the St. Paul School hall, or in the church if they need more room. Scot made the point that Priests for Life is not just for priests, but for everyone. Fr. Frank agreed and said the group is there to serve both clergy and laity. Much of their work is directed to people in the pews and people of other denominations as well. This is a matter of life itself and there's nothing more fundamental than that. **3rd segment:** Scot welcomes Fr. Rock to show. He's pastor of St. Agnes in Reading and a former Navy, Marine, and Coast Guard chaplain. Scot said he's retired as a military chaplain and asked him about the assignments he's had as a Navy chaplain. Fr. Rock said he served for 34 years, the first 13 in the Reserves and the rest on active duty. He served with the Marines in [Okinawa, Japan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_Corps_Base_Camp_Smedley_D._Butler); on board the USS Long Beach out of San Diego, (which was built in Quincy); [Camp LeJeune](http://www.lejeune.usmc.mil/), North Carolina, with the Marines; and then [Naval Air Station Sigonella](http://www.cnic.navy.mil/Sigonella/index.htm) in Sicily, Italy. From there he was called back to Washington to serve as personnel director for chaplains serving the Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard. * ["Fr. Stephen Rock named new pastor in Reading," The Pilot, 4/13/2007](http://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=4468) * [St. Agnes Parish, Reading](http://www.st-agnes-reading.org/) Scot asked how many Navy chaplains are there? Fr. Rock said there were 1,100 chaplains around the world, 235 of them active duty priests. That was at the time he left he job in 1996. As he understands it now, there are less than 100 priests on active duty. * ["Chaplains in short supply to minister to the armed forces," Rhode Island Catholic, 2/24/11](http://thericatholic.com/news/detail.html?sub_id=3880) After that job, he assigned himself to the [USS Theodore Roosevelt](http://www.roosevelt.navy.mil/) out of Norfolk, Virginia, an aircraft carrier with 5,000 sailors and Marines on board. From there he went back to the Marines in Okinawa and then around the world again to [Naples, Italy](http://www.cnic.navy.mil/Naples/index.htm), which gave him an opportunity to be in Rome on several occasions. For his last assignment, he returned to New England for the [Coast Guard Academy](http://www.cga.edu/) in New London, Connecticut. He spent 3 great years with those young men and women. Scot asked him what attracted to being a naval chaplain when he was in the seminary. Fr. Rock said his father had a cousin who was a chaplain with the Army Air Corp in World War II and he's sure he heard some of those stories growing up. Also growing up in Boston, he had a great love of the ocean and stories of naval history here. He wanted to be a priest in conjunction with serving the country and traveling and seeing the world. Scot asked what it was like to be a chaplain on the Roosevelt, how it's different from being pastor of a large parish in Reading. Fr. Rock said he was the senior chaplain on the ship with two Protestant chaplains who served under him along with a couple of enlisted personnel. Their role was to provide not only for the religious needs of the men and women onboard, but also the personal needs that are the equivalent of social work. They would handle all the Red Cross messages from the US regarding a death in the family or issues back home. They became pastors for the whole trip. The difference between being a chaplain on the ship and a pastor in a parish is just the uniform. In the parish he has the collar on and on the ship he has the uniform on. Some of the sailors would refer to him as "Captain" (his rank), but most would call him "Chaps" or "Padre" or "Father". It was always a sign of endearment. He wasn't into the rank. He remembers a sailor telling another, "Don't worry about his rank. He couldn't care less about it. He's more interested in being with us." Fr. Rock saw that as the ultimate compliment. His responsibilities as a chaplain extended beyond the Catholics. Fr. Rock said chaplains are responsible to provide religious opportunities for everyone. So of course he would celebrate the Masses, which occurred on the Roosevelt on Saturday night, Sunday morning, and Sunday afternoon. He would also helicopter to other ships in the carrier's task force. There was no Jewish chaplain so he would work with the Jewish community onboard to prepare lay-led services. Before they would deploy, he would connect one of them with a local rabbi for training. They would do the same for all the other faith groups as well. Scot asked if there were big difference between serving with the Navy versus serving with the Marines and serving with the Coast Guard. Fr. Rock said that one interesting difference is that there were more Catholic Marines than there were Catholic sailors. He's heard different explanations, but he doesn't know how to explain it. He said there's a deep desire in people for a better understanding of God, and who more than those putting themselves in harm's way. They want to know there is a God who cares and loves them. That is the same between the services. The chaplains serve as role models and to share with them not only their hardships, but also the love of God and the hope that comes from a relationship with God. Scot asked what it's like to be at sea for long periods. Fr. Rock said it's awesome to see the beauty of God. Being a person of faith, you try to see God everywhere in His creation. At sea, you see the ocean, the clouds, the sunrises and sunsets, and the night sky. Also the animals you find at sea. You get a whole sense of God's creation. In 1987, he was on an [Aegis cruiser](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ticonderoga_class_cruiser) coming out of the Persian Gulf through the Straits of Hormuz about midnight. The Captain told him that they would have Mass that night out on the deck between weapons mounts and they jokingly named it St. [CIWS](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phalanx_CIWS) of the Sea. It was incredible in terms of the brightness of the stars and the phosphorescence of the ocean so they didn't need any lights for the Mass. The men and women could sense that God was with them in this place in a very special way. It's one of his best memories celebrating Mass at sea. **4th segment:** Scot asked Fr. Rock what is like to be chaplain in the Far East during his two stints at Okinawa for himself the men interacting in a culture different from our own. Fr. Rock said it's a blessing for our military to have assignments around the world because they are put in contact with other cultures and they don't have a choice. When they get there, they can embrace it and go out and discover it, or they just stay on the base. For those that want to learn as much as they can, there's a richness that opens up for them. Fr. Rock was blessed to have a priest in the local diocese, a Capuchin Franciscan from Wisconsin who'd been there since the 1950s. He was a great mentor to all the priests coming through Okinawa and he gave them a view into the local culture that was very Shinto Buddhist but also connected to the Catholic Church. The more Fr. Rock understood Shinto, it was like reading the Old Testament. He remembers being at a ceremony in a town in northern Okinawa called [Nago](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nago,_Okinawa), for the cherry blossom festival, which is a big celebration for Japan. There was a huge banyan tree in the middle of the city, in front of which was an altar covered with fruits and vegetables and other items, like sake. Of course, Fr. Rock didn't understand Japanese, so he just had to go on what he saw was happening. But he watched them chant, beat the drum, and dance around, and then take the food on the altar and throw it up into the tree, and then take the big bottles of sake and pour them on the roots of the tree (which disappointed the Marines he was with). Later on the day, one of his chaplain friends who'd been a missionary in Taiwan before becoming a chaplain said to Fr. Rock that's right out of the Old Testament. Wherever the patriarchs had encountered God in a special way, they would build an altar and offer sacrifice to God in honor of that visit. For the Shinto, in the ceremony they weren't worshipping the tree, but worshipping the gods as they understood them. What they did know is that because the tree was so big and unique in Okinawa, they believed the gods as they understood them must have touched earth in this particular spot. The Franciscan missionary told him that they were able to use much of the folklore to help the people understand Christianity because of the connections to Christian understanding. The more he traveled in Asia and visited Shinto shrines, he saw the devotion of the people at them and their sense of the divine mystery. They had no understanding of it as we do, but they recognized that there was something beyond them. At these places of worship they would be present while we in the West, without our scientific way of thinking and wanting to figure everything out, have lost a lot of the sense of the sacred and the divine. The biggest difficulty for Christianity in that part of the world is the crucifixion. They can't understand the humiliation of the cross. Fr. Rock recalls a book that said the way to the Japanese heart is through the compassion of Christ and the stories of Scripture like the Samaritan woman and the the woman with the hemorrhages. Fr. Rock said it enriched the spiritual lives of those from the West who were able to experience it. Scot asked Fr. Rock how often he brings his experiences in the Navy to his preaching at St. Agnes. He replied that it depends on what's going on. He tries not to tell Navy stories all the time, but there are opportunities to bring his experience to a particular reading. Scot asked him to describe St. Agnes. He said it's a busy parish with a lot going on. They have had a great foundation of faith-building in the parish. They had Fr. Arthur Flynn as pastor for 33 years and they did a lot of great spiritual development at that time. Fr. Rock wants to go from being a good parish to a great parish and move forward, improving their outreach. That's one of the big differences from being a chaplain. On a naval base, you take care of the chapel and maintain things for two or three years or maintain the chaplaincy on a ship, and you move on to another assignment. But now Fr. Rock is close to his fourth anniversary at St. Agnes, which is the longest he's been in one place for the last 25 years. So on the one hand, he could sit back and relax, but on the other, there's so much that needs to be done working with all the parishioners and growing the parish. Something they've took on was the project related to the book, "From Maintenance to Mission," by Fr. Bob Rivers, to be come a church that is mission-oriented. They started the process a year ago and in October they did the parish-wide survey during the homily at Mass. The surveys were sent to the [Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate](http://cara.georgetown.edu/index.html) at Georgetown, who complied the data and put it together in a report. Then they did focus groups which involved about 140 people. In February, they had a listening day at which 175 people came to the church for six hours. They were excited to be able to talk and be heard. Then in March they had a discernment day, trying to narrow down all the ideas of listening day into some practical things they could move forward with. That was another six hour day. They have another one coming up at the beginning of June that they call vision day, to lay out what they will do for the next three years in outreach. It begins a process that is Christ-centered and will be all laid out on Pentecost weekend. Scot said he will have Fr. Rock and some of his parishioners back on the show to talk about this process which could be a model for other parishes. He thanked Fr. Rock for his service to our country and as a priest here in the Archdiocese of Boston. Fr. Rock said Memorial Day is a reminder to us of the sacrifice of all who have gone before us and a good day to remember them, to pray for them, and to thank God for the gifts we have in this country of those who are willingly to go in harm's way on our behalf.

**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O'Connell **Today's guest(s):** Fr. Paul Soper, Pastor of St. Albert the Great Parish, Weymouth * [St. Albert the Great Parish, Weymouth](http://www.atgweymouth.org/) **Today's topics:** How an astrophysicist becomes a priest; helping Catholics cope with reconfiguration; Catholics Come Home; St. Albert the Great Parish **A summary of today's show:** Fr. Paul Soper joins Scot and Fr. Mark to talk about being an astrophysicist who became a parish priest; the remarkable response of a parish to being closed; and how his current parish became an example of helping Catholics come home. **1st segment:** Scot welcomes Fr. Mark back to the show. Fr. Mark said that as it's Friday of Memorial Day weekend, we might be the only people left in the building. A very special event happened in Fr. Mark's family yesterday. His sister Margaret Mary graduated from Harvard University with a Master's degree and intends to become a teacher in the inner city. It's a great time of year. Scot said Cardinal Seán said at the ordination Mass last weekend that they were holding a rapture party. He used it very cleverly, poking gentle fun at those claiming the end of world would be last week. Fr. Mark was at St. Athanasius in Reading this week for a talk on issues related to the work of the tribunal, especially related to marriages and annulments. **2nd segment:** Scot and Fr. Mark welcome Fr. Paul Soper to the show. Fr. Paul grew up in St. Jerome's Parish in Weymouth. The pastor when he was a teen was Fr. Dan Quinn, very open and loving man and effusive in his love of God and the Church. One day, he asked Fr. Paul at 15 years old to think about being a priest. Fr. Paul said he wanted to be an astronomer. He made him promise to consider it briefly before doing anything final. Fr. Paul went to college and began to apply for graduate schools, but yet had been feeling something gnawing inside him. He went to St. Paul's, Cambridge, to speak to a priest there about these questions coming up. He thought it was just to honor the promise and put it to rest, but it lead to him deciding this was a serious call. His family was supportive, but probably not very surprised. His parents were very wise and their reaction was wanting to support him if that's what he wants to do. They later told him he was very pleased, but didn't want to influence his decision. Scot asked about those who want to pit science against faith. Fr. Paul has a degree in astrophysics. He asked Fr. Paul how studying science affected his faith. The Psalmist says the heavens proclaim the glory of the Lord. He doesn't look to science to lead him to direct conclusions about God. But go outside on a starry night to observe the immensity of the universe to observe how glorious they are, and yet they are entirely incapable of knowing what they are and why they were created. If he can study the star, and it can lead him to glorifying God because of it, then he's helping it to fulfill its purpose. Fr. Mark said some scientists cannot connect their faith to their livelihood. They can't measure God and so eliminate him from their belief. Fr. Paul said science asks questions about what and how, but is very poor at asking questions about why. The scientific method is harsh, demanding, rigorous and limited. Questions of why are really fundamental questions. They go well with the how questions. For example, the Big Bang can be investigated as to the how, but the why question which goes hand in hand with it, needs to be investigated in the chapel and in prayer and in Scripture and human interrelations. The universe is pulsing with meaning that cannot be investigated by the scientific method. One of the astronauts Pope Benedict spoke with last week said you can't help but pray when considering the fragility and beauty of the earth. Fr. Paul said one of the beautiful unfoldings with human history, with each age new ways have come forward for us to be able to understand our relationship with the Lord. In the 20th and 21st century has brought a deepened understanding of mathematics and physics. Scot said in his own life, when he went from working in marketing to the seminary, they couldn't how someone could go from the "devil's work" to the Church. How did scientists react to his entering the priesthood? Fr. Paul said he was able to continue his work with a team of scientists and they continue to research and publish papers together. He is the only religious person in the group, but they are respectful and intrigued and fascinated by the questions that are raised. One of the men died a couple of months ago and he was a self-described "religious junkie". They would often talk about religion. He was Jewish but he was fascinated by the questions. Fr. Mark said he gets a kick out of the papers Fr. Paul publishes because he can't read them because they are all very scientific. Among the academic credentials mentioned, Fr. Paul's always says St. Albert, Weymouth. Fr. Mark said in seminary that Fr. Paul has never flaunted his intelligence. He is a wonderful man who do anything for anyone, Fr. Mark said, and is his greatest friend. Academically, moving to seminary was a surprising transition, said Fr. Paul. He went from problem sets and computer programs to writing papers and doing lots of reading. He had a close group of friends in college who were very supportive and in the seminary he experienced the same. The best part for him was the community, which has continued to stay in touch. Fr. Mark said Fr. Paul was the only seminarian with a computer at the time. they started out with 42 classmates of whom 21 were ordained, 11 of whom were for Boston. Scot said that rate is not uncommon. Fr. Paul said seminary is a place of discernment, where one discovers whether they have a vocation to the priesthood. There is a particular vocation to being a seminarian as well, which some of the men who left might have had. It is a vocation of hope and is a vocation in and of itself within the Church. One of their classmates who left is now Fr. Tony Medeiros, rector of Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan Missionary Seminary in Boston. **3rd segment:** Fr. Soper has served in many parishes and at campus ministry at UMass Lowell. He has covered all five regions of the diocese. Most priests stay primarily in one region or another. Fr. Mark said he and Fr. Paul made a commitment that whatever the cardinal asks, they will do. They do not ask for assignments. Scot said that's not unlike Cardinal Seán who's taken on one difficult assignment after another as a bishop. Scot asked him what it's like to serve in many different parishes. Fr. Paul said it's been a great adventure, in part because never having chosen any of them, and so each one is a great surprise. He's grown in each place he's been and he's been happy there, making wonderful friends. In 2004, he was pastor at St. Alphonsus in Beverly and not long after, during Reconfiguration, the parish was designated for closing. Fr. Paul said it was a parish that took the concept of stewardship very seriously. They had wonderful leadership in that. Every Sunday after the prayers of the faithful, the parish would say together the stewardship prayer of St. Ignatius of Loyola. >Take, O Lord, and receive my entire liberty, my memory, my understanding and my whole will. All that I am and all that I possess You have given me: I surrender it all to You to be disposed of according to Your will. Give me only Your love and Your grace; with these I will be rich enough, and will desire nothing more. When reconfiguration came and they saw themselves as a small parish surrounded by large parishes, they brought to the committee considering it that they offered to be closed. This occurred after many meetings within the parish. He had come to Beverly from St. Anthony, Revere, and an opportunity had arisen at that parish to build a church in a remote area of the Dominican Republic. The parishioners at St. Alphonsus decided that if they were to close their own parish, that they would go to the Dominican Republic and explore the idea of building a new parish there. They worked with an architect and decided to build a beautiful place, not just something inexpensive and easy to build. They had many parish fundraisers that raised $30,000. They managed to sell every piece of furniture from the rectory for this purpose. They brought many sacred goods, including statues, altar linens, vestments, nativity sets, etc., from Beverly to the new church called San Alfonso, which opened about 8 months after St. Alphonsus closed. They ended up having to carry them up a mountain because the rains prevented the truck from climbing the hill. Scot said it's very far from the common reaction of those whose parishes were closed. Many people were attached to their parishes and wanted to hold one, but this reaction was to become giving. Fr. Paul was very moved by what he saw. On the day they closed the church they had a procession around the church, finishing with the St. Ignatius prayer. There were tears of sorrow, but also tears of sacrificial love. From there he went to Bl. Mother Teresa Parish in Dorchester and the St. Albert in Weymouth. St. Albert also suffered a lot from reconfiguration and gone through a lot of pain. The parish closed for 10 months and the parishioners had stayed and then it reopened. Fr. Paul said when he arrived at St. Albert, Fr. Larry Borges had been taking care of the parish after it had settled into the idea of being opened again and trying to normalize itself. They're maintaining the enthusiasm and zeal of fighting to stay open while doing all the ordinary things a parish does. During the time it was closed, extraordinary lay leadership come forward. The parish continue to function in many ways and those leaders stayed after it reopened. It provides a model for how parishes should function in coming days when priests become to rare to do the things priests don't need to do. Lay leadership brings a depth to parish life even if there were many priests available. Fr. Paul said there is no paid janitor. They have volunteers who take care of that. They have volunteer pastoral associates. They just had a big spring cleanup. Part of that is because they don't have huge financial resources, but they also don't need them because they have an activated lay leadership. Scot said stewardship is giving time, talent, and treasure and time and talent are more important. Fr. Paul said it's healthier for a parish to have people who love the parish to do those things, than to hire someone to do them. Scot said the painful chapter of St. Albert's history was a source for a unique way to launch [Catholics Come Home](http://www,catholicscomehomeboston.org). Fr. Paul said last fall, as they were planning for Christmas, the parish council considered what does a welcoming parish look like. They were already doing many significants part of that. After every daily Mass and Sunday Mass, they would have hospitality in the parish hall. Another aspect of being welcoming would be welcoming to those who were coming for Christmas Masses. The parish council wrote a letter to explore the reasons people might have left the Church and sympathized with those reasons and then told the people that they would be missed. They put the letter in the hands of every person who came to the church on Christmas. They also decided to have Ash Wednesday as a focus for Catholics Come Home and decided to have the church open for 24 hours that day. Well over 1,000 people came through the doors of the church. They had welcoming teams of at least 4, but often many more. As people came through the door, somebody met them, walked them up to where the ashes were being given, talked to them, gave them a prayer card, and invited them to come back on Good Friday. They heard many confessions. Many meetings with people who came through the door, including many would be candidates for RCIA. Fr. Paul said they believe it was a great success. **5th segment:** Each Friday we look forward to the upcoming Sunday's Gospel to reflect on it and prepare for the Sunday homily. * [Gospel for May 29, Sixth Sunday of Easter](http://www.usccb.org/nab/052911.shtml#gospel) >Jesus said to his disciples: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows him. But you know him, because he remains with you, and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.” Scot recalls to himself that this is before Pentecost and Apostles must have heard this as a complicated riddle. He finds it moving that Jesus talks about leaving them a second time and He must have known their fear about being "left orphans". Fr. Paul said the gift of the Holy Spirit to the Church connects with evangelization. The Spirit is a gift given to the Church, not for the Church, but rather for the world. We weren't given the Spirit not for ourselves. We are to carry the Spirit out to the world. We can be comfortable inside our walls, but we need to move beyond them to bring the Spirit to those places. The disciples at Pentecost never went back to the room in which they had been hiding in fear. They go out into the world. Scot said the first and primary Advocate is Jesus. We should ask prayers of God in the name of Jesus. So he's giving us another Advocate, which is the Holy Spirit. Fr. Mark said this is how God loves us. How do I love God? Fr. Mark thinks of C.S. Lewis in [Mere Christianity](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060652888/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=pilo0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399349&creativeASIN=0060652888) who said don't sit there and manufacture feelings. Think of how you would show love to God and go do it. God loves us by giving us the Spirit we can rely on and which is enough for us. The Holy Spirit can answer any question in our heart. Scot said Jesus repeats himself. If you love Me, you will keep My commandments and then says it again at the end that if we love Him we will do it. With repetition, Jesus is driving home the point. How do I love Jesus? Do I keep His commandments? Fr. Paul said Jesus gives us the example of true love. The Commandments are precious and we need to long to follow the commandments. Realistically we do that better sometimes and poorly other times. But Jesus didn't just teach us, didn't just tell us what to do. He also saved us. He died to hold us up when we don't do what He told us to do. Jesus himself is the commandment. He dies for those who won't do what you want them to do. Pope Benedict's first encyclical was "Deus Caritas Est" (God is love). Love is not just a feeling; it's an action. Fr. Mark says you see in Fr. Paul's parishes that by the actions of his parishioners they show love. Loving others is to the good of our enemies ahead of our own good, said Fr. Paul. * [Some of Fr. Soper's scientific papers](http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=%22paul+d.+soper%22&btnG=Search&as_sdt=0%2C22&as_ylo=&as_vis=0) That will conclude today’s presentation of The Good Catholic Life. For recordings and photos of today’s show and all previous shows, please visit our website: TheGoodCatholicLife.com. You can also download the app for your iPhone or Android device at WQOM.org to listen to the show wherever you may be. We thank our guest, Father Paul Soper. For our co-host, Father Mark O’Connell, our Production team of Rick Heil, Anna Johnson, Justin Bell, Dom Bettinelli, and George Martell, this is Scot Landry saying thank YOU for listening, God bless you and have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!

**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:** Ordination; Catholic school closing in Lawrence; the John Jay College report on sexual abuse; the Pope talks to astronauts **A summary of today's show:** Scot, Susan, Fr. Roger, and Gregory discuss the priestly ordination Mass in Boston this past week; misinformation about a Catholic school closing in Lawrence; more analysis of the John Jay College report on the abuse crisis; Pope Benedict talking to astronauts in space; and more. **1st segment:** Scot welcomes Susan back to the show. She was in Atlanta this week for the [National Association for Catechetical Media Professionals](http://www.nacmp.org/) meeting. Scot today met in a cabinet meeting in which Msgr. Bill Fay updated Cardinal Seán and the cabinet on the work of a committee considering pastoral planning for the archdiocese. The commission has 17 or 18 members who have been getting to know one another and the hard work that has been done already on pastoral planning in the archdiocese. They are working on getting us from where we are today to where we want to be in 10 years. Msgr. Fay used to be general secretary of the US Bishops Conference and is now pastor at St. Columbkille's in Brighton. **2nd segment:** Scot welcomes Gregory and Fr. Roger back to the show. The cover story of The Pilot this week is on the ordination Mass this week in which six men were ordained: Rev. John Anthony D’Arpino, Rev. Michael Joseph Farrell, Rev. Kwang Hyun Lee, Rev. Mark William Murphy, Rev. Carlos David Suarez, and Rev. Sean Patrick Hurley, FPO. Gregory said the Mass began and the weather was gloomy and much like March and by the end it was May again with sun and warmth, which was an analogy for the day for these men. Gregory said it's like having six weddings at one time. Instead of one powerful moment, there is six. * [George Martell's photos of the Ordination Mass](http://www.flickr.com/photos/bostoncatholic/sets/72157626770315180/) * [CatholicTV's recorded broadcast of the Mass](http://www.catholictv.com/Priesthood-Ordination-2011.aspx) It was an unusual ceremony in that all the men studied at St. John's. In other years, there can be those from Bl. John XXIII, Redemptoris Mater, or the Pontifical North American College. Susan said the ceremony is so moving and filled with rich imagery and language. Susan pointed out that there are some wonderful ordination photos by George Martell in the public places in the Pastoral Center. Scot was able to watch the rebroadcast of the show because he couldn't attend the Mass and his daughter had commented on how many hugs the newly ordained received from the other priests. His son remarked on how Cardinal Seán kissed their hands. Fr. Roger's ordination anniversary will be later this summer after 12 years in the priesthood and has participated in many ordinations since then. In his own ordination, receiving Christ's peace from so many priests he knew and looked up and who were his heroes was moving. Many of them whispered congratulations to him, calling "Father" for the first time. He now does that for all newly ordained and says a special pray for them. Then Scot played a series of taped comments from the newly ordained themselves recorded at the Mass. They were asked what it's like to be laying prostrate at the altar and what the most poignant moment is for them. They spoke of the power of the Litany of the Saints, to be reminded of the whole Church in heaven and on earth that is praying for them. Fr. Roger talked about what it was like to lay prostrate during the Litany of the Saints at his ordination Mass. He said a priest never forgets that experience. He still remembers the smell of the carpet and the dust on the floor. In the old rite, the man would be covered in a funeral pall to remind him that he was dying to himself and that he was being reborn in Christ. Scot asked him what is the exact moment he becomes a priest and Fr. Roger said there are two parts. The prayer is the form of the sacrament, in which the Holy Spirit is called upon, and then the second moment is when the hands of the bishop are imposed on the man. Just like in the Eucharist you need both the bread and wine and the words of consecration. The hands are the matter and the prayer is the form of the sacrament, to use theological language. Another recording, from Fr. Murphy who said he felt strongly the power of the Holy Spirit when the hands were laid upon him. Susan said it's touching to hear them talk about their experience and speaks to the timelessness of the Church. **3rd segment:** There has been a lot of secular coverage about the closing of the parish school at St. Mary of the Assumption in Lawrence. The pastor decided to close the school and a lot of the families tried to raise money to save the school. They thought if they raised enough it would keep the school afloat. To date they have raised more the $300,000, but the actual debt of the school to the parish and archdiocese exceeds $600,000 and the money is in the form of pledges. It would not begin to repay the debts and would not contribute to sustainability for the parish. Scot said it's sad when there is confusion over who makes the decisions and when anger is misdirected. Susan said no one wins in this situation. This points to how much we cherish our parishes and parish schools. This effort of raising money has been tried in other communities and they have not fared well. Scot said it's tough for him to follow the secular coverage and see how much misinformation is out there. The schools in any inner-city need a lot more money to operate than back in the day when there were religious to staff the schools. In Lawrence, there was a huge effort to consolidate three schools into Lawrence Catholic Academy. For various reasons, St. Mary's chose not to participate. The Catholic School Foundation wanted to help the new academy get a good start and chose not to direct funds to St. Mary's. Without that support, it became unsustainable. The $300,000 pledged might help it for one year, but what would happen in following years. The secular media implied that Cardinal Seán had promised that if the parents had raised $250,000 they would stay open, but that did not happen. In the end, the parish does not want to be on the hook for the debt of the school, nor did the Augustinian order which staffs the school or the archdiocese. Fr. Roger went through a school closing at St. Anthony in New Bedford. He said it was one of the toughest things he had done in his life, closing an institution with such history but was also a beacon of hope for so many kids and families. As Catholics our catholicity needs to be more than our ethnicity or our parochialism. There is still opportunity for Catholic education for these children. Even if the school closes, our Catholic faith will be passed on to the next generation. While we can mourn, the sun still shines for those hoping to receive the great treasure of our faith. Let's not focus on what we're losing, but on what we still have. On May 21, there was a connection between Pope Benedict in the Vatican and the astronauts on the space station. One of the astronauts is Mark Kelly, the husband of US Rep. Gabrielle Giffords who was injured in a shooting in January. Gregory said it's a great story, the Pope talking to people out in the heavens. The Pope asked Kelly how this mission can advance the cause of world peace and Kelly answered that the mere fact that this international effort exists shows people can live and work in harmony. The Pope asked astronaut Ron Garan what he could see from space on earth that needed attention. He replied: "To think that this paper-thin layer is all that separates every living thing from the vacuum of space and is all that protects us, is a really sobering thought." Scot said he thought of how marvelous is God's creation, to see it from space. Italian astronaut Roberto Vittori had met with the Holy Father before his trip and in this visit he showed him a coin with the image of the Sistine Chapel painting and Vittori showed off weightlessness by flipping the coin around. Fr. Roger said the other Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli's mother had died a couple of days before and the Holy Father said he was praying for him and asked him how he was coping with this loss. He told the Holy Father that he felt his prayers before and now and that it has been a comfort. The Holy Father had shown himself to be a pastor to these astronauts in space. * [SpaceLaunch News report](http://spacelaunchnews.blogspot.com/2011/05/pope-benedict-blesses-space-station.html): >The Pope spoke in Italian to station astronaut Paolo Nespoli who's mother passed away on May 2, "Dear Paolo, I know that a few days ago your mom left you and in a few days you will come back home and you will not find her waiting for you," the pope said in translated remarks. "We're all close to you. Me too, I have prayed for her. How have you been living through this time of pain on the International Space Station? Do you feel isolated and alone? Or do you feel united amongst ourselves in a community that follows you with attention and affection?" > >The Italian astronaut then responded with fondness to his Holiness, "Holy father, I felt your prayers and everyone's prayers arriving up here," Nespoli replied. "My colleagues on board the station were very close to me at this important time for me, a very intense moment, as well as my brothers and sisters, my uncles, my aunts, my relatives were close to my mom in her last moments. I'm very grateful for this. I felt very far, but also very close. And the thought of feeling all of you near me at this time has been a great relief." **4th segment:** Producer Rick Heil recounted meeting astronaut Ron Garan, who is a fellow graduate of SUNY Oneonta. Fr. Roger's editorial in The Anchor this week analyzes the John Jay College report on the causes and context of the sexual abuse scandal. The secular media often does the most sensationalist reporting and then moves. Fr. Roger this week looked at the first three chapters of the report, which looked at how sexual abuse has occurred in other places in society. Part of the goal is to show that facile explanations such as saying that celibacy was the cause can be debunked. The second chapter looked at the historical context, how abuse peaked between the mid-1960s and 1980s and how there's no single cause for abuse, but that's interesting it peaked during this time. The secular media claimed the Church was trying to blame the Sixties and the sexual revolution, but the report was saying that men in the seminary were not receiving an adequate human formation in their sexuality and when they encountered the changes in society, they began to follow the prevailing winds of society. The third chapter fills in the gaps in the crisis that haven't been studied because it looks at psychology. The report noted that many bishops recommended the abusers go for psychiatric examination and the prevailing view in the field thought these men could be cured. In essence they were overselling their competence and claimed to be doing what history shows us can't be done. We find now that we don't even have reliable predictors of this behavior. Fr. Roger said it helps explains why bishops were a little too credulous with the recommendations of the psychiatric profession. Next week he will focus on the extent to which homosexuality played a role in the crisis. Scot said he's seen that most people want one clear answer to the crisis, but the report says there just isn't one answer. The tendency of the secular media is to oversimplify complex problems. * [The Causes and Context of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests in the United States, 1950-2010](http://usccb.org/mr/causes-and-context.shtml) There's a joint statement from the Daughters of St. Paul and the Archdiocese resolving the disagreement between them over pension funds held by the Archdiocese for lay employees of the Daughters. In The Anchor this week is a story about a bill before the Mass. Legislature that would lower the age of parent consent to 16 for girls to acquire an abortion. * [Joint Statement from the Daughters of St. Paul and the Archdiocese of Boston](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/Utility/News-And-Press/Content.aspx?id=20602) * [Mass. Family Institute testimony in opposition to HB629](http://www.mafamily.org/abortion/testimony-in-opposition-to-hb629/808/) Fr. Roger said he also has an article on end of life issues and how to approach these issues from a Catholic perspective. Not only does it ask the right questions, it gives some concise answers. Gregory noted the story on the Catholic Charities spring fundraising event, which raised a record amount. The highlight of the story is the inspiring story of a Dominican immigrant who says she was saved by Catholic Charities. Notre Dame's Father Hesburgh was also honored by Catholic Charities at the dinner. Susan commented on a story by the Archbishop of Dublin who said Catholics are not passing on the faith to young people. He said, "Our parishes are not places where evangelization and catechesis are taking place." He also said "young Irish people are among the most catechized and the least evangelized." The Anchor also has a cover story on the centennial anniversary of St. Anthony Parish in Fall River.

**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams **Today's guest(s):** Fr. Jay Mello, parochial vicar of St. Patrick Parish in Falmouth and columnist for The Anchor newspaper * [St. Patrick Parish, Falmouth](http://www.stpatricksonline.org/) * [The Anchor, official newspaper of the Diocese of Fall River](http://www.anchornews.org/) * [Fr. Jay Mello's column, "Putting Into the Deep"](http://www.anchornews.org/columns/putting_into_deep_mello/) **Today's topics:** Fr. Jay Mello's vocation story; The Rosary and Marian devotion **A summary of today's show:** Fr. Jay Mello discusses with Scot and Fr. Matt the essential nature of Marian devotion for Catholics, the benefits of the Rosary for union with Christ, and pilgrimages to Marian apparition sites. Also the Scavi tour in St. Peter's Basilica and Where in Europe was Fr. Matt? **1st segment:** Scot welcomes back Fr. Matt to the program after his European pilgrimage and vacation. He traveled with his sister and parents and they prayed a lot for WQOM and its listeners. They only saw rain once on the trip and that was on the drive from Rome to Assisi. Scot sent a shout-out to the graduates of the MAster of Arts in Ministry program and George Martell is taking photos and posting them to the Archdiocese of Boston's Flickr site in real-time. Also in breaking news today, the Daughters of St. Paul and the Archdiocese have worked out an agreement to end a lawsuit over the pension funds held by the Archdiocese on behalf of the lay employees of the religious order. Scot said this topic will be discussed in more detail on tomorrow's The Good Catholic Life. * [Joint Statement from the Archdiocese of Boston and the Daughter of St. Paul](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/Utility/News-And-Press/Content.aspx?id=20602) * [Masters of Arts in Ministry at St. John's Seminary](http://www.tineboston.org/mam_index.html) * [Photos from today's MAM graduation](http://www.flickr.com/photos/bostoncatholic/sets/72157626805181396/) We've had several conversations about the Blessed Mother and the Rosary this month because May is dedicated to the Blessed Mother. Fr. Jay Mello, today's guest, has dedicated his columns in The Anchor newspaper this month to the Rosary and we'll discuss the Rosary on today's show. **2nd segment:** Scot and Fr. Matt welcome Fr. Jay to the show. Scot said he and Fr. Jay go way back. Jay was a teenager when Fr. Roger Landry, Scot's brother, was assigned to Fr. Jay's parish. Scot asked him about his vocational journey. Fr. Jay said Bishop Seán of Fall River (now-Cardinal Seán) assigned a series of seminarians to his parish and he was exposed to the idea of a vocation. His family was very involved with the parish and he became involved with the parish community itself. At the end of high school, he was praying on Holy Thursday in Adoration and on Easter Monday morning he met with his pastor to tell him he was ready. That fall he went to Franciscan University of Steubenville for his undergraduate work and then went to the North American College in Rome for his theology. It was in Steubenville that he really learned what it meant to be a Catholic and where he learned what it meant to live in a Christian community; where his faith became real to him. The friends and roommates in Steubenville were some of the best people he knew. Fr. Jay was ordained in 2007. After his ordination he went back to Rome to finish his degree. When he returned he was assigned to St. Julie's parish and then was assigned to Falmouth last year.Serving on Cape Cod is very different. In the summer, the Cape is hopping. There is a summer chapel a mile from the church. On the weekends, they go from 4 weekend Masses to eight. The retired priests from the Archdiocese of Boston living on the Cape give a lot of help. He's been writing the column "Put Out Into the Deep" for a little less than one year. He's inherited the column from Fr. Roger Landry, the current editor of The Anchor. He's dedicated his columns in May to the Rosary. The column itself is about re-awakening those parts of our faith that we have let become too casual, that we won't forget their importance. Many people have rosaries and know what they are, but often they're hanging from their neck or rearview mirror and not being prayed. There's a sentimental attachment to the Rosary or even treating it as a lucky charm. The Rosary provides a great opportunity to contemplate the life of our Lord through the eyes of the Blessed Mother. Fr. Matt said the rosary beads are like an umbilical cord to Mary and through the mysteries of the Rosary we are formed in the womb of Mary to become like her Son, to become like Him. The more you enter into praying the Rosary, the more she's able to help Christ be formed in you. Fr. Jay say we can get too focused on the prayers that we're saying--the Our Fathers and Hail Marys--that we can miss the opportunity to meditate on the mysteries of Christ. In his column, Fr. Jay describes the difference between devotion to Mary and adoration or worship. He said there's often a misconception of our relationship to the Blessed Mother. We worship God alone. The veneration toward our Blessed Mother can equal that. Yet the great role God chose for the Blessed mother is very important for us. Christ establishes a relationship between us and the Blessed Mother at the foot of the Cross. Fr. Matt asked Fr. Jay to share with us what he wrote about Bl. John Paul and his devotion to the Blessed Mother. For him, Mary is not just the first disciple of Christ, she is the most perfect disciple. In his motto, Totus Tuus, in giving ourselves to Mary, she leads us to her son. At the wedding feast at Cana, people who are struggling go to Mary and she doesn't solve the problem, but she sends them to her son. In 2002, the Holy Father gave us the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary. For centuries we had the Joyful, Sorrowful, and Glorious mysteries. He was courageous in adding these mysteries to focus on different moments of Christ's public life. The Joyful mysteries jump from His childhood to the Sorrowful mysteries of the Passion. The 5 Luminous mysteries allow us to see certain moments of Christ's life that help us to see who Christ really is. Scot said the Rosary was a simple way to pray the 150 Psalms and then morphed into praying the Our Father and Hail Marys. Fr. Matt said St. Dominic would preach the power of the Rosary against evil and to keep people united in Christ. The more you keep faithful to praying the Rosary, it keeps you faithful to Christ. One time when Padre Pio was suffering greatly, he asked a confrere to give him his "weapon", and when asked to explain, he said, "My rosary." John Paul II always had a rosary in his hands. The Rosary keeps us united in the life of Christ so as we live in this world we can live in union with Him. **3rd segment:** Fr. Matt said he was just in Rome last week with his family and they caught the overflow of Bl. John Paul's beatification. What stands out is that you can't look at the man without acknowledging his devotion to Mary. In preparing for the Feast of the Annunciation on March 25, he looked at homily by Pope Benedict in 2009. He wrote that the Gospel tells us that from that hour, St. John took his mother Mary to his own home. But the Greek is far richer and could say, He took her into his inner life and his inner being. Fr. Jay said Marian devotion is not an extra. It is an essential part of the Church. It is a way to live out our baptismal promises, by allowing Mary to enter the inner being of who we are. Fr. Matt said in the total consecration according to St. Louis de Montfort, we understand virtue by looking to Mary, who loved her Son perfectly. * ["Preparation for Total Consecration" by St. Louis de Montfort](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0910984107/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=pilo0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399349&creativeASIN=0910984107) Scot asked Fr. Matt about the role of Mary in our lives in the present day, appearing in numerous apparitions, many of which have been approved by the Church. During this trip, Fr. Matt was able to go to Lourdes. He said it is a place steeped in prayer. Mary asked St. Bernadette for people to pray the Rosary and to adore the Eucharist and every day in Lourdes there is a Eucharistic procession and then a Rosary procession. Fr. Matt said there many people who come with disabilities seeking God's healing either physically or in giving them strength for their journey. It began when the Blessed Mother appeared to St. Bernadette in 1858 in Lourdes, France. *[Office site of the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in France](http://www.lourdes-france.org/index.php?goto_centre=ru&contexte=en&id=405) There was a miraculous spring that spouted during the apparition and there have been 65 scientifically confirmed miraculous healings from those waters, but there have been thousands who claim a miraculous cure. In all this, the Blessed Mother encourages her children to pray the Rosary. Scot asked Fr. Jay why people should make pilgrimages to sites of Marian devotion. Fr. Jay said what he sees at these pilgrim sites are people who return to their faith and to the sacraments. He sees people return to Confession by the thousands. Pilgrimages have a longstanding history in the Church. It's not a vacation or sightseeing tour. It's a time to pray and allow the Lord to workin our lives by visiting places where great saints have lived, worked, and died. **4th segment:** Welcome back. It’s time to announce the winner of the weekly **WQOM Benefactor Raffle**. Our prize this week is a copy of Father Leo Patalinghug’s cookbook “[Grace Before Meals](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307717216/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=pilo0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399349&creativeASIN=0307717216).” The same Father Leo who defeated Bobby Flay on the Food Network show “Throwdown” helps you make family meals a way of life, showing that mealtime is the perfect setting for discussing the major issues all families face. This week’s winner is Eileen Sheehan from Holliston, Massachusetts. Congratulations Eileen! If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit WQOM.org.3 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:** During his time at the North American College in Rome, Fr. Jay was a guide for the Scavi tour. St. Peter's Basilica was built over the tomb of St. Peter, which was actually discovered in 1939 during an excavation under the basilica. The bones of St. Peter were found in his tomb. The Scavi is not just a museum or an historical site. It's the story of St. Peter and that he gave the tour, by tracing the life of St. Peter in Scripture and then afterward when he traveled to Rome to spread the Gospel and eventually give his life. * [The Scavi](http://www.saintpetersbasilica.org/Necropolis/Scavi.htm) Fr. Matt said on this trip he was able to take a Scavi tour on the feast of Our Lady of Fatima on May 13. First, it is astonishing to realize that you are walking on the ground of a 1st century necropolis or cemetery of mausoleums. That necropolis was later filled in and Constantine built the first basilica over it. Fr. Jay said St. Peter was buried on the Vatican hillside and Christians would gather at the tomb to venerate his remains for three centuries. The Constantine basilica put a high altar directly above the tomb and over the next 1,500 years successive altars were placed on the same spot so that when the Pope celebrates Mass on that altar, he is doing so directly over the remains of St. Peter. * ["The Bones of St. Peter," by John Evangelist Walsh](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0385150393/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=pilo0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399349&creativeASIN=0385150393) The best way to get tickets for the tour, go to the North American College's website. But you need to plan 3 to 4 months in advance to get tickets. The tours start about 9 am and occur every 15 minutes, but only 4 or 5 tours a day are in English and only about 15 people per tour. * [North American College's Scavi tour information](http://www.pnac.org/pilgrim-information/scavi-and-vatican-museum-information/) * [Vatican webpage on the Scavi tour](http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/institutions_connected/uffscavi/documents/rc_ic_uffscavi_doc_gen-information_20040112_en.html) * [Virtual tour of the Scavi](http://www.vatican.va/various/basiliche/necropoli/scavi_english.html) **6th segment:** Scot asked Fr. Matt about his trip to Europe with his family. It was an aggressive itinerary that started in Lourdes for a couple of days and praying at the shrine, where they experienced the amazing baths that pilgrims can be immersed in as they pray. Groups from Boston go every year, including a group with the Order of Malta who take people who are ill who go to pray for healing. *[Order of Malta Lourdes pilgrimage](http://www.maltausa.org/lourdes.php) Fr. Matt also traveled to San Giovanni Rotondo where Padre Pio, a Capuchin saint, lived. He lived with the [Stigmata](http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14294b.htm) of Christ. He had a great gift of prayer and of confession, being able to read people's hearts. Fr. Matt was able to celebrate Mass at the same altar where Padre Pio received the Stigmata in 1918. He said the crowds were relatively light. * [Shrine of Padre Pio, San Giovanni Rotondo](http://www.sacred-destinations.com/italy/san-giovanni-rotondo-padre-pio-shrine) He then traveled to [Assisi](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assisi) to visit the Basilicas of St. Francis and St. Clare. While the basilicas were heavily damaged in earthquakes about 10 years ago, you wouldn't know it today. He was able to pray at the tombs of St. Francis and St. Clare and the cross of San Damiano. Scot said Assisi is one of the most beautiful cities and an excellent example of an ancient European village. * [Basilica of St. Francis, Assisi](http://www.assisionline.com/assisi__162.html) He also went to Lanciano, Italy. It is the location of a Eucharistic miracle where a monk was struggling with his belief in the True Presence of the Lord. During the Mass the Host turned into real flesh and real blood. It remains as living flesh today. Scientists have typed the blood as AB. * [Eucharistic Miracle of Lanciano](http://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/mir/lanciano.html) They also traveled to Venice, which was an opportunity for a little vacation time but also to visit the [Basilica of St. Mark](http://www.basilicasanmarco.it/eng/index.bsm), where the remains of St. Mark are in the high altar. That will conclude today’s presentation of The Good Catholic Life. For recordings and photos of today’s show and all previous shows, please visit our website: TheGoodCatholicLife.com. You can also download the app for your iPhone or Android device at WQOM.org to listen to the show wherever you may be. We thank our guest, Father Jay Mello. For our co-host, Father Matt Williams, our Production team of Rick Heil, Anna Johnson, Justin Bell, Dom Bettinelli, and George Martell, this is Scot Landry saying thank YOU for listening, God bless you and have a wonderful evening!