The Good Catholic Life

**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O'Connor **Today's guest(s):** Fr. Robert Reed, president of the CatholicTV network * [CatholicTV](http://www.catholictv.com) * [CatholicTVjr](http://www.catholictvjr.com) * [iCatholic](http://icatholic.catholictv.com) * [Catholic TV Everywhere](http://www.catholictveverywhere.com) * [Carry Your Faith: CatholicTV iPhone app](http://www.carryyourfaith.com) * [CatholicTV Magazine](http://www.catholictv.com/catholic-magazine.aspx) * [VisitThePope.com](http://www.VisitThePope.com) **Today's topics:** CatholicTV, America's Catholic Broadband Network, and Fr. Robert Reed **A summary of today's show:** Fr. Robert Reed shares with Scot and Fr. Chris the roots of his call to the priesthood and how he came to be President of the CatholicTV network. Also, the history of CatholicTV, its dynamic and far-reaching present, and the bright future ahead. **1st segment:** Scot welcomes Fr. Chris O'Connor to the show. The Ordination Mass this past weekend was the high point of the year. Six men from St. John Seminary were ordained at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross by Cardinal Sean. Fr. Chris was at a diaconate ordination for one of his seminarians down in the Diocese of Providence. Scot was able to watch the Mass on CatholicTV, because he couldn't be present himself. Scot's 7-year-old daughter commented on how many hugs the new priests receive. All the priests in attendance give a holy embrace to each of the ordinandi during the ceremony and many of the priests in the Archdiocese were in attendance. When Cardinal Seán celebrates an ordination, you know an ordination has taken place after 3 hours! Cardinal Seán charges a "fee" to the new priests by requesting their first priestly blessing at the end of the Mass. Then he kissed their hands to show that these are priestly hands consecrated to the work of Christ. You can watch the ordination at CatholicTV.com. Click on "cathedral events." Fr. Chris said the only thing as special as the ordination Mass are the first Masses celebrated by the priests on Sunday. **2nd segment:** Scot and Fr. Chris welcome Fr. Bob Reed. Fr. Bob notes that Scot is prepared for heading out to coach his kids' baseball and soccer team this afternoon, and Scot said he thinks it's good for kids to see him and his wife outside the house helping them in other activities. Scot asked Fr. Reed how his vocation came about and what his influences led him to respond to the call. He was born in Boston and grew up in Swampscott. His parish was St. John the Evangelist, right there on the ocean. His vocation began in tragedy. He lost his dad in a tragic car accident when he was 7, just months before his First Communion. It caused him to think deeply about his Catholic faith and discover there was a lot there in his faith. His mother re-married a number of years later to a friend of his father. He also has 3 brothers and a sister. He also had marvelous priests in his parish and the Sisters of St. Joseph in the parochial school. It all developed this call that came from God. Scot asked when he knew he wanted to enter the seminary. Fr. Bob said he was always thinking of the priesthood. Even though he was encouraged to look at other options, he remained sure. He was accepted to other colleges, but he decided to go to St. John's and never regretted it. Fr. Chris asked which priests were most role models. Fr. John Carroll and Fr. Dick Little were in his parish and the greatest influences. Fr. Little was once the chancellor for the Archdiocese. Fr. Little brought a crucifix to Fr. Reed's home after his father's funeral and Fr. Bob thought to himself, "Those are the hands of a priest!" In 1985, at his ordination, as he emerged from the cathedral, a man fell to his knees in front of Fr. Bob and kissed his hands too. Fr. Reed studied at St. John's Seminary College and then at the North American College in Rome. Studying at the NAC gives a man a great experience of situating him at the center of the Church to experience the universality of the Church and meet men from the Church throughout the United States. Fr. Chris asked if he had a pivotal moment in Rome. Fr. Bob said the first few months were difficult because he'd never been away from home, realizing he couldn't come home for two years. On Pentecost Sunday in 1985, he was the deacon for Pope Bl. John Paul II and chant the Gospel in Latin at the Mass in St. Peter's Square. After ordination, he served in parishes in Malden, Norwood, Haverhill, and Whitman. At the time, Immaculate Conception, Malden, was the largest parish in the archdiocese and it was an experience of the Church in a bygone era. In Norwood at St. Catherine's was similar. In Boston at St. Matthew's was a different experience. All along the way, there have been great people he's met and he remains in contact with them to this day and they have taught him a wonderful lesson about what the priesthood is. Priests give, but they also receive so much. Scot said that he hears good things about Holy Ghost in Whitman and it all seems to stem from the Perpetual Adoration launched by Fr. Bob there and that continues to this day. Fr. Bob said he'd never been to Whitman before he was named pastor and he said the people there love that it's a small town off the beaten path. When he came to the parish, he wanted to find a way to keep the church open at all times to allow people a place to come and pray, to bring their struggles and fears before Jesus in the Eucharist. And that happened thanks to the generosity of some 200 people. * [Holy Ghost, Whitman](http://www.holyghostwhitman.org/) Fr. Chris said that many parishes that have Perpetual Adoration are those that are producing vocations and it's both the prayers and the Eucharistic mindset of the parish. **3rd segment:** CatholicTV is the oldest Catholic network in the country founded on January 1, 1955 with a New Year's Day Mass with Cardinal Cushing. From that time, Sunday Mass has been celebrated on television. It started on Granby Street in Boston, right next to Boston University's Catholic center. After a fire, it moved to Newton and then Watertown. The Granby Street studio was on the second floor of a building originally owned by Cardinal O'Connell. While the technology was different, it was remarkably similar to today's setup. The then-Boston Catholic Television moved to a former Raytheon building in Newton. The vision had always been for CatholicTV to have its own home and not be constantly renting. So they purchased a former convent from St. Patrick, Watertown, and built the building out with all the new studios. He gives credit to General Manager Jay Fadden and Chief Engineer Mark Quella for converting a convent to a television studio. They managed to keep the convent chapel and it is now used to celebrate the daily Mass on Boston's channel 68 and on cable. Fr. Bob said it's also great to have a place to pray during the day with the Blessed Sacrament reserved there. Fr. Chris said it's a great place to celebrate Mass even with the cameras on you. Fr. Bob said St. Therese of Lisieux has always been a personal favorite of his and when he came to CatholicTV he promoted her as their patron. She is the patron saint of missionaries and he considers what they do to be missionary. Scot asked him how it's different to be a priest on television rather than in a parish. Fr. Bob said that Msgr. Frank McFarland called it the Parish of the Airwaves. Fr. Bob said he misses the intimacy with people in a community you come to live and come to know people's lives. He still helps out in a couple of parishes on the weekends. But the intimacy he experiences now is unique because when you're in front of a camera it's you and one other person, multiplied by thousands. For the person on the other end of the TV, they are listening to you. Fr. Chris asked about CatholicTV's reach. Fr. Bob said it reaches beyond the Archdiocese of Boston to most of New England, on Comcast, Verizon, Charter, Sky Angel, RCN and a number of smaller cable outlets. Norwood Light and Braintree Light have cable systems for just those towns, for example. They also have unlimited video on demand on Verizon FIOS. They reach 10 million households. It's a responsibility to be creative and faithful. Scot said there's also lots of content available beyond the television, including CatholicTV.com, an iPhone app, and CatholicTVjr. CatholicTVjr is a widget that anyone can place on their own website or blog so that all of CatholicTV's videos and shows can be watched on those sites. Not only does it help people to learn about their faith, it also drives traffic to their own sites. Fr. Bob said Sean Ward is the guy at CatholicTV responsible for the website and CatholicTV magazine. **4th segment:** Scot said the Daily Mass and the Daily Rosary at the signature programs for CatholicTV because it appeals to many shut-ins and homebound. Fr. Bob said many priests and Eucharistic ministers tell him that the homebound they visit are watching the Daily Mass every day and they leave CatholicTV on all day as a constant companion. Scot asked how it works to schedule priests for every day for the Mass and they bring parishioners with them. Fr. Bob said it's becoming more and more difficult to get priests who are often alone in a parish and have funerals and the like, so he always says how grateful he is for the priests who come in. The Sunday Mass is celebrated at the studios of Channel 7 at 7 am. The more people the priests can bring with them, the more it seems like a real parish experience, which is important to Fr. Bob. Fr. Bob said he likes that the studios are at a parish in a neighborhood and wants to bring that feeling to their broadcast. Fr. Chris said Fr. Reed follows three great priests who led CatholicTV. Msgr. Walter Flaherty started it all after attending a symposium on the new technology of television. From the beginning, CatholicTV has been completely supported by its viewers, which was Msgr. Flaherty's vision. Msgr. Frank McFarland was beloved by staff and viewers alike and gave 27 years of his priesthood to Catholic television. He had a way, a gift to stand in front of a camera and make a connection one-on-one with people, particularly his deep love for the Blessed Mother and the Rosary. The Daily Rosary was the brainchild of Msgr. MacFarland. This summer will mark the 10th anniversary of his death. Msgr. Paul McInerny came in during a difficult time in the history of the Archdiocese and left the network in a good way when Fr. Reed came in six years ago. Fr. Reed said he's always had a fascination with media in general. They've just completed an incredible upgrade to high definition at CatholicTV, which isn't just new cameras, but every bit of technology, which sets them up to bring their media to every platform and every device available and yet to be built. He hopes to leave the place set for the future so they can continue to bring the Gospel message of Jesus Christ in a difficult time in our society when the Gospel is not always welcome. Scot said other programs on CatholicTV include the Daily Rosary, which is recorded in many different places in the US and the world. Fr. Bob said whenever they go anywhere they take the occasion to record one or two rosaries. This past week they were in Washington DC with the St. Paul's Choir from Cambridge and they prayed the rosary with the boys singing some beautiful motets. Fr. Reed said when he prays the rosary, either personally or for the TV, he thinks of how blessed we are to have the Blessed Mother. He has a beautiful pair of rosary beads that he brought back from Medjugorje in 1990 and gave to his mother. They were used every day by his mother until she went into a surgery from which she didn't recover. Before the surgery she gave him the rosary beads and told him to pray them every day until she got better and as she did not, he is still praying them to this day. **5th segment:** Scot said there are 110 different programs at CatholicTV. Fr. Bob said Catholic Destinations premiered a new episode. Kevin Nelson takes us to various sacred places and shrines and churches all over the US, Canada, and Europe. This latest edition focused on [Bl. John XXIII National Seminary](http://www.blessedjohnxxiii.edu/). He's been to many pilgrimage sites. One of Scot's favorite kinds of episodes is when Kevin visits new cathedrals that are built and he liked the episode on the new cathedral in Los Angeles. Scot asked him about Wow, a Catholic quiz show for kids, mainly 3rd graders. Fr. Bob said our photographer George Martell took some great pictures of the shows recently and they are on our Flickr page. He said the kids are prepared ahead of time with the questions and answers. He tells the kids that they are teaching the audience about whatever the theme of the show is for the day. There is a large audience of 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders. There are other programs that highlight archdiocesan priests. Fr. Bill Kelly and Fr. Chip Hines review movies from a Catholic perspective on the show Spotlight. Going My Way with Fr. Chris Hickey and Fr. Paul Rouse sing songs and are interviewed by Fr. Hickey. Fr. Reed hosts House + Home, going into the homes of local Catholic families to see how they make their houses into homes. Fr. Bob said it comes out of his deep respect for families as the domestic church and put the focus on great Catholic families living out the challenge of making a home; to show the beauty and power of family life. They had a special episode about the Pope's home in the Apostolic Palace in Rome. The episode is at [VisitThePope.com](http://www.VisitThePope.com). Scot said people often ask what it's like to work with Cardinal Seán and how he lives and he thinks people are similarly curious about the Pope. Fr. Reed said for the future, CatholicTV is going to all high definition on July 1.

**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry **Today's guest(s):** Andreas Widmer, CEO of the Seven Fund, and Michael Miller, Director of Action Media at the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty * [The Seven Fund](http://www.sevenfund.org/) * [The Acton Institute](http://www.acton.org/) * [Faith and Prosperity blog by Andreas Widmer](http://www.faithandprosperity.com/) * [Encyclical "Centissumus Annus" by John Paul II](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_01051991_centesimus-annus_en.html) * [Encyclical "Rerum Novarum" by Leo XIII](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/leo_xiii/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_15051891_rerum-novarum_en.html) * ["The Birth of Freedom"](http://www.thebirthoffreedom.com/) * ["The Call of the Entrepreneur"](http://www.calloftheentrepreneur.com/) **Today's topics:** The roots of free markets and entrepreneurship in Catholic culture and teaching **A summary of today's show:** Michael Miller of the Acton Institute and Andreas Widmer of the Seven Fund tell Scot that it is a myth that entrepreneurship and free markets are opposed to Catholic social teaching, but in fact are rooted in Christian tradition and are the most effective tools for approaching poverty. **1st segment:** Scot welcomed Andreas Widmer back to the show. Andreas has been on The Good Catholic Life several times talking about his experiences as a Swiss Guard for Pope John Paul II and then his experience at the beatification of Bl. John Paul earlier this month. He also welcomed Michael Miller. Scot said he has know as Acton as an organization that talks about the role of free markets in the creation of a virtuous society. Michael said Acton was founded 20 years ago to look at the intersection of theology and moral philosophy on the one hand and business and economics and entrepreneurship on the other. Most people make their living in business and there's a rich tradition of the Church thinking about these matters. It is an ecumenical organization. Fr. Robert Sirico is a co-founder of the Institute 20 years ago. Father had left the faith as a young man and was very influenced by leftist causes and socialism. He once met a man with whom he had debates about economics and the man at one point remarked, "You know, you're delightfully dumb. You need to read something." And so he gave Fr. Sirico all these books that he began to read and slowly began to have a conversion away from left-wing radicalism to a sense that a free-market that allows people to live out their freedom and responsibility actually helps the poor better than his previous ideas. Then he had a re-conversion to the Catholic faith and entered the seminary where he found a lot of the radical ideas he'd left behind from when he was a leftist. When he was ordained he co-founded an institute to consider these questions. They made the decision to make it broad-based and engage it from a whole Christian perspective. The Institute does many things, including academic articles, books, and films. They are a research and educational institute. They do three main things: 1. Research, including a scholarly journal called "The Journal of Markets and Morality." They have a lot of serious scholarly books, lots of op-eds. 2. Education, including a summer conference of 600 people in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where they talk about the moral, economic, and theological foundations of a free society, called Acton University. They also have conferences around the world. 3. Media, including two documentaries, "Call of the Entrepreneur" and "the Birth of Freedom", both of which have been on PBS. They are working on a third documentary now on entrepreneurial solutions to poverty. Andreas said the beauty of the Acton Institute engages reason in such a way as to attract secular groups. Andreas is both a research fellow at Acton and the CEO of Seven Fund. Seven Fund approaches the challenge of dealing with poverty through entrepreneurial solutions primarily from a secular perspective, even though its work is informed by its principals' religious faith. Acton and Seven Fund have collaborated for about five years now. Seven approaches it from a cultural aspect, which includes religion. Before Scot worked for the Church, in his 20s, he thought he might have a call to the priesthood. A number of his colleagues at a consumer goods company told him that he was going from the devil to God. Scot said both Catholics in ministry and businesspeople think the two areas are opposed to one another, but what Scot has always liked about Acton is that it says we should be integrated people, not compartmentalizing work life from family life, and Acton provides help for this project. Michael said business is a moral enterprise, because it produces goods and services people need. People need consumer goods, like cleaning supplies, which is good. Peter Drucker said the purpose of business is to create a customer. To create and sustain a customer you need to provide a value to them. (Setting aside things that are objectively morally evil) Bl. John Paul said, a business is a community of persons who gather to make a livelihood and provide something people need. It provides opportunities for collaboration, for people to work together. Jobs help you grow up, to mature, to fulfill commitments. These virtues can transfer to your family life and social life. In a job you have to deal with other people and learn to control yourself. Business brings a common good. There is a movement now called corporate social responsibility, which currently includes this idea that corporations have to give back to society as if they took something in the first place. But corporations have given back by creating lots of value already. Just by the fact of being a corporation doesn't make them evil. Business can be an opportunity for moral evil, but it's also an opportunity for moral good. Andreas said there is a subconscious attitude that we seem to talk about business as if it were zero-sum, if I make money, you lose it. This isn't true. We "make" money, because we create new value. But the language of "giving back" implies that companies take something without creating something. That's the point of this movie, which Andreas recommends, called "The Call of the Entrepreneur," whose basic premise is that when you make something from nothing, God is present, because only God can create something good from nothing. So if we make a new business and create a new product, we know that God is with us, which makes us co-creators with God. Michael said the zero-sum fallacy--if I have a piece of the pie, you have less of the pie--is a really bad fallacy and leads to some very bad conclusions, including the myth of overpopulation. It misunderstands that everyone used to be poor 500 years ago, so how do you explain growth? Everyone asks the question, "How do you solve poverty?" but that's not the right question. They should ask, "Ask do you create wealth?" If you have a zero-sum game, it makes you defensive, you don't take risks. This is not the Health and Wealth Gospel. We are called to work. Theologically speaking, work does not come from after the Fall of Adam. We are called to be fruitful and multiply and make dominion. The Fall creates the toil of work. But work is a good thing, which John Paul II wrote about often: The dignity of work. All productive enterprise. **2nd segment:** Michael described some of the principles of a free market society and how they are undergirded by Christian principles. We sometime thinks of markets as guys on Wall Street exploiting the poor. While they do exist, markets are really networks of human relationships. They are people getting together and making exchanges for things that are beneficial for each other. In a competitive free market, people make an exchange if it's mutually beneficial. If it's not, then we trade with someone else or seek a better price. This is why a government can't control a market, because there are billions of transactions with all these individual preferences. To have a market economy, you need private property, to be able to have title to property in order to live out your freedom and to exchange it freely for goods and services. In Nicaragua, 70% of the land has no title, they don't know who owns it. If you don't have title, you can't use it as a collateral for a loan, people don't have addresses, you can't get credit. You also don't have incentive to improve it. Private property is not a given in most of the world. In the book, "The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else", Hernando de Soto makes this point. We think private property is normal, like fish don't realize they're in water. Private property is fundamental. Another condition is rule of law. You know your contracts will be enforced. Opportunities can take place because you know there will be fairness. Free association is the right to join together, whether business or unions or charities. There needs to be a culture of trust, a robust civil society, and human beings raised in families looking out for the long term, not just the short term. These ideas come directly out of the Judeo-Christian tradition. It's in the Ten Commandments, it's in the early Church fathers. In 1256, the first argument for free association was by St. Thomas Aquinas. Pope Leo XIII used this as the basis of his defense of unions. The Spanish scholastics in the 15th century wrote that it is wrong for governments to prevent the free exchange of goods if it benefits the common good. Adam Smith, the founder of modern free-market economics, said almost nothing original because it had all been said by the theological traditions of the middle ages. He just said it in a new way. The reason people don't know this is because most of this was in Confession manuals, guides for priests helping penitents make moral choices. The market economy did not come from the Enlightenment, but from the Christian medieval period. Serious scholars know there were no "dark ages". If those were the "dark ages," explain how the Cathedral of Chartres was so beautiful and so many modern buildings are so ugly. This is why good Christians can be free marketers. The Church doesn't have an economic policy, but it does have a moral orientation. People who support markets can be comfortable this a moral legitimate position to hold. Andreas said as a businessperson, it means he doesn't have to re-invent the wheel. The teaching of the Church is a compass he can use in business dealings. He has a compass with a direction, which is good for business. This is a great way to run a company because it makes you live a centered life, so you are the same person on the weekend as you are during the week. It also helps you to run a profitable company. Scot said free markets provide people with the most freedom, which corresponds with Catholic teaching on the dignity of the human person. A free market allows us to exercise our free will in a moral way. With the rule of law, the good actions are positively reinforced and bad actions are negatively reinforced. The Church is primarily concerned with the salvation of souls. She is also concerned with creating the conditions for human flourishing so that people live according to the Gospel. These conditions of human flourishing happen to be the same as that for wealth creation: private property, rule of law, etc. They respect human freedom. One of the problems with Communism was it took away the space for families to live out their responsibility and their freedom. Modern concepts of freedom are very broken and dangerous. The modern concept is that I will do whatever I want. But freedom separated from reason and truth is not freedom. Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict) said it's a diabolical "freedom." The free market is not just about doing whatever I want and consumerism and getting stuff. It must be oriented to reason and truth, so it must be in a framework that recognizes who the human person is. Those countries that allow for human freedom are the wealthiest because God made us free. Andreas quoted Bl. John Paul who said, True freedom allows me to do what I ought to do, not just what I feel like doing. Michael said that this is a famous quote by Lord Acton--"Liberty is not the ability to do what you want, but the right to do what you ought," one of the two quotes most people know. The other is "Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely." He was a Catholic historian in England concerned with the history of liberty. **3rd segment:** "The Birth of Freedom" tells the story of the Judeo-Christian roots of political and economic liberty. It is a myth that it came out of the Enlightenment to free people from the "shackles" or religion and superstition. They told the history of the importance that religion has played in human liberty. Featured in the movie was Rodney Stark, who wrote a book called "The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success", and he makes this case from a sociological pint of view. In the Middle Ages, you begin to see the development of representative government, markets, and capitalism. (Michael doesn't like to use "capitalism" because it's a Marxist term; he prefers "free market".) There was international banking and capitalism in the Eighth Century and in fact the "Dark Ages" were a time of great development for human liberty. It destroys the myth of the "Dark Ages," which unfortunately is perpetuated by some Protestants. The sources of human liberty come from Christian tradition. Scot said the movie answers the question "How is freedom born"? The marketing material for the movie poses the question: >But humans are separated by enormous differences in talent and circumstance. Why would anyone believe that all men are created equal? That all should be free? That all deserve a voice in choosing their leaders? Why would any nation consider this a self-evident truth? In a world that never lived with this maximization of freedom that the United States has over the past 200 years, it seems self-evident, but for most people throughout history it has not been. The Founding Fathers knew they were living off of a deep tradition; it's not a modern invention. Andreas said that while the Founding Fathers may have been Deists, not Christians or Catholic, they were products of their culture. They draw off the cultural wealth at their disposal. Michael said even Nietszche acknowledged that the way we understand a lot of things is influenced by Christianity. But cultural capital doesn't last forever. It needs to be renewed and that's what "Birth of Freedom" is about; to encourage people and teach people to renew these sources of human liberty. It is in the concept of the human person, created in the image of God, with freedom and rights and responsibilities that has been the transforming force in history. "The Call of the Entrepreneur" is based on Fr. Robert Sirico's book "The Entrepreneurial Vocation ". Entrepreneurship is a secondary vocation--after primary vocations like marriage or priesthood--and we are called to respond to our gifts. Our entrepreneurship brings benefits to society. Where societies will go depends on how they view the entrepreneur. They look at three entrepreneurs: a farmer, a banker from New York, and Jimmy Lai, a refugee from Communist China when he was 11 years old. He started working in a factory and learned English and he said for the first time he knew freedom. He came from a land of no opportunity and no freedom to a land of freedom and opportunity and now he's worth $4 billion. He's also a convert to Catholicism. He built not only wealth for himself, but all kinds of jobs and opportunities and better families. A person invests his money in a small enterprise, works hard, sacrifices year after year, struggling to get the business of the ground, hires people along the way, gives them good incomes so they can buy homes and educate their children. After decades of working to build this business, the person is now financially independent and living comfortably and suddenly--to many people-- he's a dirty capitalist exploiter. But what about all the value he's created, all the jobs? Not everyone is an entrepreneur, so we need them to create jobs for others. Andreas said of course there are people in business who have bad intentions. This is why religion is so important in the marketplace. This is why a public moral culture is important. If you are an entrepreneur, you can be an exploiter or a creator, depending on your mindset. What is your goal? To end life with the most money possible? Or to recognize that you are a steward and there is dignity in work and there is virtue in work. Scot said if you view the people you work with as real human people created by God and not just producers and consumers, then you find a lot more people want to work with you. When you have people who love the environment they're in and they like the people they work with and the sum is greater than the parts, then wealth is created. Michael said in order to have self-governance, you need self-governors. For a free market to be sustainable requires free oral people. Liberty is the delicate fruit of a mature civilization (Lord Acton). Immature people are not fit for self-governance. If we live in a dictatorship of relativism we will lose freedom. **4th segment:** Michael said he and Fr. Sirico have been part of a project called "Doing the Right Thing," organized by Chuck Colson and Prof. Robert George. It is an ethics curriculum that deals with many of these questions of business and ethics. * [Doing the Right Thing](http://www.colsoncenter.org/ethics) Another initiative approaches the problem of poverty through entrepreneurship and is called PovertyCure. Scot reads from the website: "We all are called to a loving and generous concern for the poor. Yet while many of us have a heart for the poor, more than 1 billion people--one sixth of the world population--live on about $1 per day. Every year millions of men, women, and children die from AIDS, malaria, and other preventable diseases. Tens of millions lack clean water and go to bed hungry." * [PovertyCure](http://www.povertycure.org/) The typical way that developed economies have responded to the challenge haven't produced results over the past decades. Andreas said the questions is now why there is poverty, because we are all born people and we all started out poor. The question is how to create wealth. To approach poverty as a problem is the wrong approach. John Paul said we should stop looking at the poor as a problem, by start looking at them as an opportunity, people with a latent potential. Scot said it's not about creating big bank accounts, but creating wealth in the form of drinking water and food, clothing. Andreas said we should call it prosperity. It is a complex issue with many aspects to it. We can look at the aspect of the culture, both our own and that of the poor. We as Christians often have a false sense of charity. We see someone who's poor and we say, "I'm going to take care of you," but that's not how it ought to work. In a crisis, you can take care of someone in the short term, but in the long term, if we're creating prosperity, we can't run their lives. We can create prosperity by doing business with each other, by taking our responsibility, exercising our freedom responsibly. Michael said PovertyCure doesn't look at what we what they don't have (water, food, etc.), but what we don't see that they don't have that is preventing them from getting what they need (rule of law, private property, etc.) There isn't a single way to solve this, but it's time to change the discussion from looking at people as "consumers" or "burdens" to seeing them as "producers" and "entrepreneurs." Going from the idea as aid as the model to enterprise as the model. Population does not cause poverty. People are wealth creators when given the right conditions. PovertyCure is doing a video curriculum and a documentary. They have over 50 partners and are looking for more. Join them on the website or on their Facebook page. 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 guests, Michael Miller and Andreas Widmer. For 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!

**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O'Connell **Today's guest(s):** Fr. Kevin Sepe, pastor of St. Francis of Assisi parish in Braintree * [St. Francis of Assisi Parish, Braintree](http://www.sfab.org/) * [Roman Catholic Diocese of Hamilton in Bermuda](http://www.catholicbermuda.org/) **Today's topics:** Fr. Kevin Sepe shares his path to the priesthood, the wonderful community at St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Braintree, how the clergy personnel board assigns priests, and what does a vicar forane do? **1st segment:** Scot welcome Fr. Mark back to the show and Fr. Mark says he was in Bermuda this past week. Boston has been appointed by the Vatican for many years as the tribunal for the Catholic Church in Bermuda and Fr. Mark made a pastoral visit with the priests on the island. He also spoke to laypeople on the topic of annulments. He said Bermuda is at the same latitude as North Carolina and only two hours by plane. Scot was at St. Michael's in Andover, the largest parish in the Archdiocese, for a vicariate meeting on the work of Catholic media. Also tomorrow is the priestly ordination for six men in the Archdiocese of Boston, at the Holy Cross Cathedral at 9am. Fr. Mark taught them canon law in the seminary and said they are a very fine group. They will receive their assignments tonight from Cardinal Sean. Fr. Mark resides at St. Francis of Assisi parish in Braintree, where the pastor is today's guest, Fr. Kevin Sepe. **2nd segment:** Scot and Fr. Mark welcome Fr. Sepe to the show. He is also pastor of the geographic region in which the Pastoral Center resides. The first day the Pastoral Center was open, Fr. Sepe brought collection envelopes to the Chancellor. Fr. Sepe grew up in St. Michael's in Lowell and attended high school. In 1977 there was a graduating class of 17 men, 3 of whom are now pastors in the archdiocese. They never discussed the seminary in high school, but they all came to the seminary later. He believes its the foundations they received from the priests in the parish. Scot said he was stunned to learn that Fr. Kevin grew up in the same parish Scot grew up in. When Fr. Kevin was in high school, he admired the headmaster of St. Michael's school, who was also his Latin teacher. One day at the end of school, the priest asked him, "Sepe, did you ever think of the priesthood?" He said, "No", and the priest replied, "Start." Fr. Kevin said that seed developed and grew and he couldn't escape it. It wasn't in his brain, so much as his heart. After that, he talked to a parish priest who recommended he talked to someone at the seminary who offered a weekend retreat for college-age men. While he was a little rambunctious on the weekend, it was a foundation. Fr. Kevin's father was a classic WWII vet and while he had a profound faith, he was no theologian. To have a son as a priest was an honor. His mother was a registered nurse and had worked in a psychiatric hospital and seen many difficulties in people's lives so she wanted to make sure he would be happy. Scot said Fr. Kevin is celebrating 25 years in the priesthood this year. His experience is far different from the day of his ordination. At the time, you couldn't expect to be pastor for 25 years, but that quickly changed. His first assignment was St. Joseph, Quincy, where had a wonderful five years with the pastor and a parish school in a city. He stayed friends with the pastor afterward. After that assignment he went to Middleboro and learned how large the archdiocese is. The parish itself is 75 square mile and is the southernmost part of the archdiocese. On a communion call one time he got lost on the back roads and it took him all day to get back home. After that assignment, he was at St. Mary in Randolph with Fr. Richard Harrington. Fr. Kevin has been a pastor for 14 years this coming August. He remembers being on a board that investigated making rectories separate from the church's offices, which has turned out to be a good respite for many priests to enable them to have a place of prayer apart from the work place. It's a relief to leave the office, come home, and rest and have a prayerful place. At St. Francis, the rectory has the parish offices in the building, but there's a clear separation. It's a former convent and it had a cloistered area built into the architecture. **3rd segment:** Scot said St. Francis is known as a busy parish. He said they have a parochial school with 360 students and they provide them with a Mass once per month and he's in the school regularly. Their religious education program has 700 students. They have an active sacramental life, they have about 100 funerals per year and about 120 baptisms. With the school, there is an access to a percentage of parents you would not normally connect with during the week. About 50% of the students live within Braintree and the rest are commuters from other parishes or other towns. Fr. Mark said there is a lot of charitable activity in the parish. There is an active St. Vincent de Paul Society. On Thursdays, there is a food pantry day serving a number of people in the parish. They have a monthly canned food drive to stock the pantry. There is also an agreement with [Panera Bread](http://www.panerabread.com/) where they receive the day-old bread that would normally be thrown away. It allows them to give baked goods to families who not have access to them. They help on the average of about 60 to 120 families and that number has increased in recent years, as well as requests for assistance with rent, fuel, and clothing. The parish has an annual giving tree at Christmas where parishioners supply gifts for specific children. Fr. Mark said they also help parishes overseas. Each week 10% of the parish's offertory is sent to organizations locally and globally. The parish is involved with the [SMA Fathers](http://www.smafathers.org/), where they host a priest for 2 months from Africa, giving them a respite from the missionary labors. At the end of their stay, there is a collection from parishioners. Last year, the provided a roof and a generator for a parish in Northern Nigeria and even a motorcycle for the catechists to reach remote parishioners. After Hurricane Katrina, the parish collected $60,000 for relief efforts to the people of the Gulf region. The parishioners are very aware of their need to give of their time, talent, and treasure. Fr. MArk said this comes from the leadership of a priest like Fr. Sepe who models the behavior and encourages. Scot said the numbers of kids involved in religious ed and the school makes it sound like it's a very young parish. What works to bring them to the parish? Fr. Kevin said they have a weekly family Mass on Sunday at 9am and encourage families to bring them. The kids come up to sit near the altar during the homily and the homily is geared to the children. At baptisms, they make them prayerful liturgies and they encourage parents to bring the kids even if they make noise. It's how the kids become comfortable in the church. They also have religious education meeting on a Sunday in order to invite them to the 9am Mass and the 10:30 Mass. They do their First Communions at their Sunday Masses, small groups at every Mass over two weekends. It reminds them of the importance of coming to Mass as a family. He wants to draw them back to the Church on Sundays. They have a unique ministry called the prayer shawl ministry. Fr. Kevin said there are many women who gather to pray as they crochet or knit. They do it in silence as they listen to meditative music and pray for people. They then give the shawls to the homebound or people in hospice or to expectant mothers who know they are connected to a parish that cares for them. **4th segment:** Fr. Kevin is also a vicar forane and serves on the clergy personnel board and is a fire and police chaplain. Scot asked Fr. Kevin how Cardinal Sean assigns a priest. For the newly ordained, they are interviewed by the board. They are asked questions and the board gets to know them, their talents, and more mundane matters like allergies to pets or the like. Whether they'd like to be near a school or in a city or if they need to be assigned near a relative who needs their care. Also, their language abilities. Meanwhile, the board has prepared a list of parishes that would be suitable assignments for new priests. Their first assignment is only 3 years. They might become pastors in only 8 years, but recently one priest was made a pastor after his first assignment. They want the priest to be able to learn quickly how to become a pastor. They're thinking of making them only two year assignments. When a pastorate opens, a priest can submit his name for a particular parish. Or one of his friends can nominate him. Or his name can be generated by members of the clergy personnel board. They look at the statistics of the parish: demographics, financials, and the ministerial staffing. They then look at the list of the priests of the archdiocese, their current assignments, and when they were ordained and maybe find a name of a parochial vicar who might be a good fit. They come up with a slate of three names recommended to the Cardinal. they put them in order of who they believe would best fit. Fr. Kevin has been on the board for 6 or 7 years. Today, they consider assignments with pastoral planning in mind and they consider not just the parish, but the whole region and the whole archdiocese. They now use GPS and mapping technology to show the locations of parishes around the open pastorate and see, for example, priests who are close to retirement in nearby parishes and thus affect who they will assign in the currently open assignment. The slate of candidates goes to the cardinal and he can choose one of the names or he can choose anyone he wants. The cardinal usually runs the list by several other priests as well. But he typically goes with the recommendation even if he changes the order of the priests on the list. Fr. Michael Medas of the Clergy Personnel Office calls the priest and meets with him to talk about the parish and to encourage him to accept the assignment. A new wrinkle is that pastors are now being asked to be pastors of more than one parish at a time. They've asked pastors of nearby parishes to take on neighboring parishes as well. Scot said the Archdiocese is divided in 5 regions and each region is divided in vicariates, sub-regions. The vicar forane helps the Cardinal in administering the vicariate. He hosts meetings of the pastors and allows for an avenue of communication from the archbishop to the priests and back. As vicar forane he coordinates that communication. At a vicariate meeting today they had the vicariate's representative the presbyteral council give a report on the recent meeting of the council. The priests give their feedback to the representative and then he brings it back to the cardinal and the council. The vicariate meets about every 4-6 weeks. Fr. Kevin tries to schedule them for just after the presbyteral council meetings. Fr. Mark said the Church works with principle of subsidiarity, pushing all activity to the lowest level applicable. **5th segment:** We look at this coming Sunday's Gospel as we do every Friday. * [Gospel for Sunday, May 22 (John 14:1-12)](http://usccb.org/nab/052211.shtml#gospel) >Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? > >And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be. Where I am going you know the way.” Thomas said to him, “Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?” > >Jesus said to him, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, then you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” Philip said to him, “Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? > >Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else, believe because of the works themselves. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father.” Fr. Kevin said many priests would select this Gospel for a funeral Mass. He dwells on the Lord saying, "In my Father's house there are many dwelling places." What does he mean? Is this like a giant house at the beach. Scot said his kids are at the stage of asking him what heaven will be like and he tells them we cannot know, but that it will be greater than we can imagine. Fr. Kevin tells them to dream and imagine what they would like to be there. He recalled the graveside ceremony prayer: "Inflame in our hearts a desire for heaven." What does it mean for heaven to be like a banquet? It's a giant feast that we never have t o get up from, we're never full and we move from table to table to be with one another. Scot notes Jesus's response to Philip, "Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip?" He imagines what Jesus might say to himself: Have I been with you in prayer and in Mass and in the people you love, do you still not know Me? We have to make sure to be aware of the ways in which Jesus is present to us every day. Fr. Mark notes that in John's Gospel that Philip is often portrayed as not having a clue and always needs a little reassurance and yet does great things in his life later on. Scot said to imagine being Philip, and how confused Philip must have been to hear these teachings for the first time without the benefit of two thousand years of trinitarian theology to help him. Fr. Mark likes to have a role model in Philip who needs some help and may not be the best student. That will conclude today’s presentation of The Good Catholic Life. On Monday, Michael Miller from the Acton Institute and Andreas Widmer from the Seven Fund will talk about entrepreneurial solutions to poverty and on Tuesday, Fr. Robert Reed of CatholicTV will be on the show to tell us about all their great programming. 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 Kevin Sepe. 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 evening!

**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Susan Abbott **Today's guest(s):** Gregory Tracy, Managing Editor of The Pilot newspaper, and Father Roger Landry, Executive Editor of The Anchor newspaper. * [The Pilot](http://www.pilotcatholicnews.com) * [The Anchor](http://www.anchornews.org) * 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 of 6 men for Boston on Saturday; new protocols for Extraordinary Rite of the Mass; Vatican, US bishops update on sex abuse crisis; Apostolic Nuncio's remarks in Boston **A summary of today's show:** Scot and Susan take a look at the news of the week with Fr. Roger Landry and Gregory Tracy, including the Apostolic Nuncio's talk in Boston; a report to the US bishops on the causes of the sex abuse crisis; Vatican guidelines to bishops worldwide on the issue; the Vatican's clarification of an instruction encouraging generous allowance of the Extraordinary Rite of the Mass; and Boston's ordination this Saturday of six men for the priesthood. **1st segment:** Scot welcomes Susan back to the show and asked her about her week. She had a meeting with Archdiocese of Boston catechetical leaders in Duxbury yesterday and one in Gloucester today. It's the annual retreat day for catechical leaders in parishes. It's a busy news week including Saturday's ordination, new protocols from the Vatican for the Extraordinary Rite, the Vatican and US bishops continuing to work on the sex abuse crisis, and the Apostolic Nuncio's remarks this Sunday at the Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan Missionary Seminary gala dinner. **2nd segment:** Scot welcomes Fr. Roger and Gregory back to the show. Starting with Archbishop Sambi's remarks at the gala dinner. Gregory said the nuncio was in town the dinner to receive an honor from the seminary. He spoke about vocations, prayer for vocations, Good Shepherd Sunday. He commended Cardinal Sean for his leadership and the Holy Father's regard for the cardinal. He urged Boston to take its place as a preeminent leader in the United States: May Boston recover that position that it had in the Church in the United States, to be the mother, to be the light, to be the Church indicating the future through its engagement to have many vocations." Fr. Roger said the archbishop very sincerely appreciated the support the people in the room were giving to the seminary. Fr. Roger was very inspired as were the people who came with him to the dinner, who are entering the Church on Pentecost. Scot quoted the Archbishop who said that Redemptoris Mater is "at the center of diocesan values and missionary values." He told the seminarians that their house is small, but the hope in this house is great. Then he encouraged the people at the dinner to "help please to enlarge the house and, by doing so, the hope." Gregory said during the reception before the dinner, the Archbishop made the rounds through the room, meeting people, and was very engaged in taking the time to hear their stories. * [Archbishop Pietro Sambi's biography](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pietro_Sambi) * [Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan Missionary Seminary](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/redemptorismater.aspx) Also recognized at the dinner was local businessman Jack Shaughnessy. He said at the dinner that the future well-being of the Catholic Church depends on thriving seminaries. He said the dinner was an opportunity not to honor himself but to support, promote, and advance the works of the archdiocesan seminaries. * [Jack Shaughnessy](http://www.jackshaughnessy.net) **3rd segment:** The John Jay College of Criminal Justice report tries to help understand what happened in the Church to cause the sexual abuse of minors. Gregory said the study began in 2006. An earlier study looked at the extent of the crisis, but this study tried to determine why it happened and thus figure out how to prevent it from happening again. Fr. Roger said the report argued that there is no single cause for the spike in sexual abuse of minors that began to rise in the late 60s, reached its apex in the 70s and began a dramatic decline in 1985. The secular media picked up on the point that when the sexual revolution hit men who were poorly prepared affectively and emotionally and were caught off-guard by sexual libertinism, that removed certain obstacles for men who were disposed to acting out in this manner. The report ruled out the most commonly advanced explanations, including that this is the direct result of celibacy, that this is caused by priests with same-sex attractions (although Fr. Roger didn't find this part of the report very convincingly). It said that like in society as a whole and in other institutions, there is a series of factors, not just one explanation. Scot said that while some people might not like the methodology or some of the conclusions, it's clear that the bishops are trying here. It's 5 year effort and 150+ page document. Susan said with all due respect to the secular press, you don't get the whole picture when they are your only source for news on this issue. She also pointed out that John Jay is not a Catholic institution, which gives them some credibility. Also, we need to be clear that an explanation is not excuse for what happened. Scot quoted Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York who pointed out that this is a report *to* the bishops, not *from* the bishops to the community at large. Archbishop Edwin O'Brien of Baltimore said the report does not mitigate the damage of the abuse to the people who were abused. The US, because of the scandal breaking in 2001, is far ahead of many episcopal conferences around the world so the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a letter to all bishops' conference telling that they must submit to the Vatican within the next year a series of protocols that the bishops in those countries will follow to prevent happening in their country what has come to light in places like the United States. The US bishops have already done this. There should be a real care and concern for victims, not looked at as antagonists, but a wounded loved one. There needs to be programs of education and prevention, helping priests to understand victims' suffering and helping people who work in the Church to see the signs of abuse. Priests and religious need training in celibacy and affective sexual maturity. Bishops need to give attention to priests as father and brother; sometimes priests feel like they now need to bring a lawyer when called in by the bishop. In most circumstances, there needs to be cooperation with civil authority; the only exception is in places where the State is already hostile to the Church and trying to injure the Church. The CDF also said review boards and all of that is good, but the buck stops with the diocesan bishop and it's his responsibility to ensure that children are protected and embraced by God's love. Scot said it's hard to think about the right action to take when a priest is accused of sexual abuse, especially since 2002 when the Dallas Charter guidelines encourage remove a priest upon accusation. However, the Vatican's guidelines also emphasize the presumption of innocence. Susan said that unfortunately when a priest is accused unjustly his reputation is ruined and if the priest waits many years to be cleared of wrongdoing it's made worse. Scot said there's no perfect solution here. Scot said to Gregory that it's remarkable that the CDF gave bishops' conferences only one year to get this done. Gregory said one year for a bishops' conference to enact a major policy is lightning speed in the Church. Obviously the Vatican putting a definitive emphasis on this and is perhaps working against the perception that the this is a problem only in other dioceses or other countries, instead of being a universal human problem. Fr. Roger said bishops weren't callous about these matters in the past, but did not act strongly enough. Yet parents know how they would react to hear if one of their own children is being victimized. So the Vatican says that bishops need help from all kinds of experts, but they also need to be the leader on whom the responsibility falls. Only 19 countries' bishops conferences have these guidelines so far. * [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) * ["Vatican orders bishops to draft guidelines to handle sex abuse cases," Catholic News Service, 5/16/11](http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1101921.htm) **4th segment:** The Vatican this week also released norm calling for bishops to respond generously to Catholics who seek celebration of the Mass according the Extraordinary or Tridentine rite. Gregory said the Vatican urged dioceses to be generous even for a small group within a parish. Also to help priests be formed so they can celebrate the Mass in that rite and to seek reconciliation for those groups who are divided from the Church over the rites. Scot said the Vatican made it clear that it should be more available and that seminarians should be trained to celebrate the rite. They also clarified some of the original instructions from the document four years ago, including what constitutes a sufficient number, what makes a priest qualified (every priest in good standing with the Church), and that this is not for those who reject the authority of the Holy See. Fr. Roger four years ago made the Tridentine rite available in his parish in Fall River. There was a small group of people and every first Saturday there about 40 people who attend. He wanted to be lovingly obedient to the Holy Father. Fr. Roger said practicing Catholics who love the Tridentine Mass often felt persecuted. He wanted them to recognize that they are loved and embraced in the Church. At his parish, it's a sung Mass. It's been a great experience for him as a priest. In the simplification of the Mass to the New Order, many private prayers of the priest were eliminated and he finds that they keep him focused and he even keeps them in his heart still when celebrating the Novus Ordo because they keep him properly focused. It's impossible for a priest celebrating the old Mass not to know that the consecration is the greatest act ever, in which he is entering Communion with the Trinity and he's bring this gift to the people. Every valid Mass does this, but this is very clear in the old rite. It helps Fr. Roger to enter far more into what he's doing. Fr. Roger thought what was very interesting was that there had been resistance to what the Holy Father had said four years ago. There has been some claim that priests won't know the Latin for the Mass. In some places, priests were tested on their knowledge of Latin, but are never tested on their knowledge of other languages before celebrating Mass in those languages. Susan lived through some of these changes in the Mass. She still has her old St. Joseph Missal with Latin and English and she remembers being appalled at the change. It crumbled her sense of the universality of the Church and the idea that you could go anywhere in the world and hear the same Mass. She grew to love Mass in the vernacular. But she does get offended when she hears that the Latin Mass is more reverent on behalf of all the priests who celebrate Mass in the vernacular every day with reverence. What she connected with was the call to offer the old Mass as a precious treasure to be given to all. Gregory said people often equate the more Catholic culture of society in the 1950s with the Mass itself, but it's not necessarily true that has to do with the Latin Mass. * ["Vatican norms insist on 'generous' approval for use of Tridentine rite," Catholic News Service, 5/13/11](http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1101897.htm) * ["Pope's 'reform of the reform' in liturgy to continue, cardinal says," Catholic News Service, 5/16/11](http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1101922.htm) * [Universae Ecclesiae](http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_commissions/ecclsdei/documents/rc_com_ecclsdei_doc_20110430_istr-universae-ecclesiae_en.html) * [Vatican Press Office note on "Universae Ecclesiae"](http://press.catholica.va/news_services/bulletin/news/27408.php?index=27408&po_date=13.05.2011&lang=en#TRADUZIONE IN LINGUA INGLESE) * [Summorum Pontificum](http://www.ewtn.com/library/papaldoc/b16summorumpontificum.htm) Now moving on to talk about the Mass of Ordination at Holy Cross Cathedral this weekend. Six men will be ordained on Saturday at 9am. John D'Arpino will celebrate his first Mass on Sunday at St. Patrick's in Natick at 2pm; Michael Farrell will celebrate his first Mass at St. Charles in Woburn at 2pm; Br. Sean Patrick Hurly, FPO, will celebrate his first Mass at St. Catherine in Little Compton, RI, at noon; Andrew Taegon Kwang Lee will celebrate his first Mass at St. Joseph, Somerville, on Sunday at 11am; Mark Murphy will celebrate his first Mass at St. Thomas Aquinas in Bridgewater on Sunday at 2:30pm; and Carlos Suares will celebrate his first Mass at St. Joseph-St. Lazarus in East Boston at 2pm. The Pilot this weekend will have a special edition on vocations and the ordination with many great articles as well as a list of all of Boston seminarians and their home parishes. Gregory also spoke about the editorial in The Pilot about the MariaTalks.com website discussed several weeks ago. The taxpayer-funded site is controversial for its promotion of immoral sexual behavior by adolescents and despite the opposition it remains essentially unchanged. Fr. Roger said The Anchor this week includes an article on the Alpha course which is just beginning in the Fall River diocese, including an organizational meeting at Corpus Christi Parish in East Sandwich on May 25. It's a 10-week Christian course on the basics of the faith. Susan said the Archdiocese of Boston has been involved with Alpha since 2001. It's a wonderful lead-in to RCIA and its good for cradle Catholics who want to learn more about their faith. Another article in the Pilot, there is a profile of the late Fr. William Haley who just died this past week. 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 guests Gregory Tracy and Father Roger Landry. For our co-host, Susan Abbott, our Production team of Rick Heil, Anna Johnson, Justin Bell, Dom Bettinelli & George Martell, this is Scot Landry saying thank YOU for listening, God bless you and have a wonderful evening!

**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Chip Hines **Today's guest(s):** Fr. Martin Hyatt, bso, and Paul Blanchette * [National Cursillo Center](http://www.cursillo.org/) * [Boston Cursillo](http://www.bostoncursillo.org/index.html) * [St. Basil Salvatorian Center](http://saintbasils.org/html/salvatorian_center.html) **Today's topics:** The Cursillo ministry **A summary of today's show:** Fr. Martin Hyatt and Paul Blanchette talk with Scot and Fr. Chip about Cursillo, its origins, its aims, its wonderful fruits and just what a Cursillo weekend is all about. **1st segment:** Scot welcomes Fr. Chip back to show as a substitute co-host for Fr. Matt Williams who is still traveling. The radio studio for The Good Catholic Life is dedicated to Bl. John Paul and today would have been his 91st birthday. Today is also the 50th broadcast of The Good Catholic Life. On today's show, we will discuss Cursillo. Many people of faith throughout the archdiocese that Scot admires have the common background of having lived a Cursillo, including Cardinal Seán. Fr. Chip said he's seen how the Cursillo brings people closer to Christ. **2nd segment:** Scot and Fr. Chip welcome Fr. Martin Hyatt and Paul Blanchette to The Good Catholic Life. Paul said he has been involved with Cursillo for about 20 years and that's where he met Fr. Martin on his own weekend. It takes place in Framingham and Methuen. Fr. Martin has been general spiritual director since 1994 and has been helping with Cursillo since he was ordained in 1984. Fr. Martin said Cursillo comes from the Spanish word meaning course and it means literally "little course" or "a short course." The full name is a "short course in Christianity." It was born in Majorca, Spain, where the bishop was meeting regularly with a group of men and they were planning a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compestela. First it was delayed by the Spanish Civil War and then by the World War, and all this time the men grew tighter and tighter together. So this weekend experience took place and caught on like wildfire. It traveled to mainland Spain to Portugal to France and Italy and all over Europe. It came to the US through the US Air Force. During an exchange with the Spanish Air Force at the Air Force base in Waco, TX, the American airmen noticed their enthusiasm and made their Cursillo. The Cursillo came to Boston in 1963 and the first one at the St. Basil center in 1969. Fr. Martin said Cursillo is not a retreat. It's a method. It's how we develop a deep and intimate relationship with Jesus and how we live to serve him. The tripod of Cursillo is piety, study, and action, or holiness, formation, and evangelization. This is the foundation. Holiness begins the relationship with Christ, formation feeds the relationship, and evangelization brings it out to others. Scot said many people might have gone through religious education to learn facts about their faith. What makes Cursillo so much more powerful and different and so impactful in 4 days? Fr. Martin said the short answer is the Holy Spirit. The long answer is three full days of time and no distractions: no watches, no cellphones, nothing like that. They take off the masks: cool and macho. Instead they talk in a simple, non-threatening way about things that really matter. Like on the road to Emmaus, the disciples comment that their hearts were burning when Jesus taught them. Fr. Chip said he often saw parishioners, especially men, who would go on Cursillo would come back without the tough veneer and demeanor they left with. Fr. Martin said God breaks through if we are open and receptive. The deepest desire of our heart is our salvation. God created us to love and to be loved. So when Cursillo talks about things that really matter, it touches the hearts' deepest longing. He hears many stories on the reunions that take place one month later about people who have begun to reach out to God in their lives and that they have changed their lives in simple but profound ways. We have to tap into the Holy Spirit living within us. Because faith is something living, it must be nurtured and fed through prayer. Scot said a cursillista once told him that before Cursillo they knew a lot about Jesus, but didn't know Jesus. Paul said knowledge in the head and the journey to what you know in the heart is an amazing experience. **3rd segment:** The program begins on Day One with getting to know yourself. Paul said before his Cursillo, he hadn't really looked at himself before his weekend apart from his job and being a father and husband. Cursillo's tripod model teaches balance and he looked at himself and realized he was not in balance. Fr. Martin said Cursillo is not a secret, but you can't describe certain things without trying them. "Taste and see the goodness of the Lord." The gift of Cursillo is the Holy Spirit and men and women sharing their personal experience of Jesus Christ. People can identify with others who are like them and then imagine how their lives can end up in a positive way. The longest 18-inches in the world is the distance from the head to the heart, and while you can know Jesus in the head, it is not the same as knowing Him in your heart. Fr. Chip asked Paul to clarify what a personal inventory means. Paul said one of the first talks on the weekend calls the person to take a look at what and where you spend your time and resources to show where your priorities and then to determine what your goals are in life. He found that he didn't know what his goals were and has since found that most people are like that. He'd found that was very me-focused, feeling that if he went to work and earned money, then he could leave the rest up to his wife and spend a lot of "me-time". On his weekend, he got rid of his masks and was able to empty himself of what he had done. Scot asked how many people show up on the weekend not sure they really want to be there? Paul said a large percentage are like that, although there are many who have been developing a spiritual life already. Fr. Martin said each of the three days has a theme: Know Yourself, Know Christ, and Have Courage. There are talks followed by table discussion which is more sharing than discussing. It's not about right answers, but about sharing feelings and experiences. It is rooted in sacraments. All day Friday looks toward confession on Friday night.They start hearing confessions at quarter to ten at night and end at midnight. There is also the Mass and time for prayer, time with the Blessed Sacrament. There is plenty of time for self-examination. Everyone wants to be a better person and better at what they are doing in life. Fr. Martin said they have separate weekends for men and women. Part of the reason is the masks that can be worn in the presence of the opposite sex. Paul has led Cursillo weekends since his own. He said typically the weekends at St. Basil's have 40 or 50 candidates on them. They also do them at prisons and he recently had about 40 men at Norfolk prison. Each of the people on the team, which numbers about 20, has a specific role. Fr. Martin said there have been about 13,000 people who have made Cursillos in Methuen, not counting all the others in Framingham and in the Worcester diocese and Fall River and Springfield. **4th segment:** When Paul came to make his longest journey of 18 inches on the first couple of days of his retreat. When he made his retreat 20 years ago, he'd already been married 20 years. His wife Christine was the rock of faith in his family and he said he'd put her through a lot as an independent man as she stood by him. The Jesus he sees in Christine has helped him find Christ in himself. In those days, they went through financial difficulties, even bankruptcy, but after Cursillo he was able to put the material possessions in their proper place. He was a golf nut before Cursillo, but just after his weekend, he seriously injured his shoulder in a golf cart accident and was unable to play for two years, helping him to put things in the proper order in his life. Paul said not every story from every speaker affects every candidate on the weekend. But there is always something that touches everyone that they can identify with. Fr. Chip asked if he's ever seen someone leave the weekend who wasn't affected. Paul said no two people are ever affected in the same way at the same time. Wherever you are in the moment, Jesus is with you in the moment. Fr. Chip said everyone always worry about numbers, but if someone is brought closer to Christ, whether one or 13,000, it's worth it. Fr. Martin said Jesus said to feed My sheep, not count My sheep. He said the witness talks are critical to Cursillo because they put flesh on the bones of facts about the faith. In the Gospel of John, Jesus says, "If you love Me keep My commandments." We need to know that obedience is the fruit of relationship and rules without relationship equals rebellion. Once we love Jesus, we want to please Him and serve Him. The preaching of the early Church was always "Jesus is Lord. Jesus is risen." It wasn't the 10 commandments or social justice. Those aren't unimportant, but they come after the relationship with Christ. **5th segment:** It’s time to announce the winner of the weekly **WQOM Benefactor Raffle**. Our prize this week an [8-CD set of Mother Angelica’s program “Living the Scriptures.”](http://www.ewtnreligiouscatalogue.com/LIVING+THE+SCRIPTURES+WITH+MOTHER+ANGELICA+-+CD/cid=274/page_no=1/edp_no=20458/shop.axd/ProductDetails) This series brings you vintage Mother Angelica episodes that will profit your soul and cheer your spirit with her insights, wisdom, and humor. This week’s winner is **Nicholas Russo from Winchester, Massachusetts**. Congratulations Nicholas! If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit [WQOM.org](http://www.wqom.org). For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for our weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. **6th segment:** Paul said he has been on four different Cursillo teams that go into prisons. This brings the team into an uncomfortable place, but he learned that the souls inside are like the souls on the outside of the walls. Fr. Martin said the St. Basil's community has been bringing Cursillo into prisons since 1989, starting at the women's correctional center in Framingham. They have run 20 at Old Colony in Bridgewater, 20 at Norfolk, 16 at Framingham, and 1 in Plymouth. There is a huge need to bring Cursillo everywhere. About 1 in 100 Americans are in prison. 1 in 38 kids have a parent in prison. Fr. Martin said the problems of society won't be solved by more prisons, but only by bringing Jesus Christ to them. Scot said that while it's politically convenient to say we need to throw them in prison and throw away the key, these are our brothers and sisters in Christ. Fr. Martin said some of the best people he's met are behind the walls. Part of what's different is that in prison it's barebones. In Methuen, they have a beautiful snack table available from morning to night, but in prison there is no frills, yet the men and women are hungering for Jesus. It helps them to experience what Jesus meant when He said if the Son has set you free, you are free indeed. Some of the candidates will say suddenly in the middle of the weekend that they'd forgotten they were in prison. Fr. Martin tells the story of a young woman who realized that she had come to like herself for the first time. They give them the opportunity to serve each other. It's all about being a servant. On Cursillo, the clergy and the laity work together as equals. The weekend's leader gives a talk on how a Christian leader is called to serve. If someone is interested in Cursillo, they can connect with an Ultreya, a parish community of those who have gone on Cursillo, to get an idea of making a Cursillo. They can also go to the websites listed above for more information. 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 guests, Father Martin Hyatt and Paul Blanchette. For our co-host, Father Chip Hines, 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!

**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O'Connor **Today's guest(s):** Fr. Wayne Belschner, pastor of Sacred Heart Parish, East Boston * [Sacred Heart Parish, East Boston](http://www.rc.net/boston/sacredhearteast/) * [East Boston Central Catholic High School](http://www.ebccs.org/) **Today's topics:** Fr. Wayne Belschner's vocation story and the unique pastoral situation of Sacred Heart Parish, East Boston **A summary of today's show:** Scot and Fr. Chris welcome Fr. Wayne Belschner to discuss his journey to the priesthood, his seminary years in Rome, his first assignment in Woburn, and his present parish of Sacred Heart in East Boston, where he serves an ethnically diverse parish that comes together as one Catholic family. **1st segment:** Scot welcomes Fr. Chris O'Connor back to the show. This Saturday 5 men are preparing for ordination to the priesthood as well as a brother with the Franciscans of the Primitive Observance. This week they are on retreat at the retreat house in Milton run by the Oblate Fathers. The ordination on Saturday is at 9am. It's a busy time for the men and the Mass itself is 3 hours long. After, they will have a reception with family and friends where they offer their first priestly blessings. On Sunday, they have their first Mass celebrated throughout the diocese, typically in their home parishes. They will have a week off, but will typically return to the parishes they served as seminarians and celebrate Mass there. Usually during the month of July, Cardinal Sean's blog includes the new priests writing their stories. At their first Mass, the new priests typically ask another priest to preach the homily. It's usually a spiritual director or another priest who was instrumental in their vocation. This week's [Pilot](http://www.pilotcatholicnews.com) will have profiles of each of the men and [CatholicTV](http://www.catholictv.com) will show the Mass live. Everyone is welcome to the cathedral for the Mass. **2nd segment:** Scot and Fr. Chris welcome Fr. Wayne Belschner to the show. Fr. Wayne was the youngest of 11 children in his family. He one sister and 9 brothers. They lived in a small house with just 4 bedrooms for everyone. They all ate dinner at one table and this was family time where everyone shared their day. His whole family remains extremely close. Having nine brothers prepared him well for the fraternity of the priesthood. His parish growing up was St. Mary of the Assumption in Revere. His parish priest was an example and a mentor that had a tremendous impact on his vocation. He first had thoughts about a priestly vocation as a sophomore in high school. His pastor, Fr. Mahoney, took ill and he spent a lot of time helping him and saw how remarkable he was in how he worked in his ministry. He was a gentle person, but his example affected his life deeply. Fr. Mahoney's recommendation for his entrance into seminary was received on the day that Fr. Mahoney's funeral was celebrated. When Fr. Wayne first asked him for a letter of recommendation, Fr. Mahoney tore it up and said he would only sign it if he knew Fr. Wayne was not being pressured to enter the seminary. He studied for a time in Rome at the North American College. During the four years of college seminary, there 70-80 men there in the late 80's and early 90's. And as he was finishing, he was asked to go to Rome for the NAC. He made some close relationships with friends in Italy that he remains in touch with. His mother was Italian and she was very proud that her son was becoming a priest. His father was like Fr. Mahoney who wanted to be sure he was doing this not to prove something, but because it was what he really wanted. His parents came over to Rome to visit, which was their first trip overseas. His parents were very supportive. A highlight of studying in Rome was meeting Bl. John Paul II. They had many opportunities to go over for Mass with him and he served Mass with him in his private chapel. The classes, as well, showed him the universality of the Church. There were religious and lay people in the college. He studied at the Pontifical Gregorian University. Some of the professors were in fact many of the experts at Vatican II, who wrote some of the documents of the council. Fr. Wayne was ordained 16 years this week. His class of priests was 21 men, 18 from St. John's. The cathedral was completely silent as their names were called and as they approached the altar. It's an awesome feeling. They got an understanding of being part of something bigger. The priest who was supposed to preach at his Mass became ill and he had someone come in at the last minute. Like Fr. Chris, he remembers being so nervous. His mother said her favorite part of the Mass was the end when the deacon gave the dismissal because it was the first time in public they'd ever seen anyone get the last word over Fr. Wayne. **3rd segment:** In the past 16 years, he's had two assignments. His first assignment was at St. Charles Borromeo in Woburn, where he had two different pastors. After his first term of five years was up, he got two one-year extensions. He was going to go to work with the Military Archdiocese, but that fell through and he stayed for an eighth year. The parish was thriving and it seemed the lives of the people were centered on the church. The community allowed the church to be very active in the community and they valued the input of the church. Leaving after his eighth year was the most difficult transition for him. Then he went to Sacred Heart Parish in East Boston. He went to check out the parish ahead of time in street clothes and he tried to go into the church during First Communion practice and was literally pushed out the door by the religious education director. That was his introduction to his new parish. St. Charles in Woburn is known for producing many vocations, to the priesthood and religious life. Fr. Hank Garrity was a pastor there and was very strong working with the youth in the city and promoted vocations. The city is a very close-knit community that values faith and the input of the church. All of that is a recipe for vocations. It is a vocations factory. He learned by example also from a pastor, Fr. Paul Sughrue, on how to be a pastor. When the abuse scandal broke, Fr. Sughrue was proactive and provided good leadership. Fr. Timothy Shea came in and continued the momentum of the parish looking forward. He was very good at shoring up the finances of the parish, paying all of the parish's debts and the school was operating in the black as well with a full enrollment. His favorite part of being a priest is the opportunity to say Mass every day. It is at the table that families and friends exchange the intimate moments of our life and at God's table we share our moments, but also God's intimate moments. The Mass fuels everything that takes place. At his deacon assignment there was a sign over the chapel door: "This is the most important thing you will do all day." One of his favorite saints is St. Josemaria Escriva, founder of Opus Dei. His spirituality was that you find God in the ordinary moments of the day, being with ordinary people. And then you come to the Mass you see that this is the most extraordinary thing that you'll be doing. He likes the movie "There Be Dragons" and it presents both the man and the message in a positive way. **4th segment:** Fr. Wayne describes Sacred Heart as unique and very diverse. Their weekend Masses are celebrated in English, Italian, and Vietnamese. When the parishes closing around them, they started to absorb different ethnic groups and they were intent on being one parish, not three different parishes. All holy day Masses are celebrated trilingually and they incorporate all the groups into the liturgies. This was done with very little effort. The people were very accommodating. In East Boston, they are characterized by their understanding of family. When someone comes to the door, they are brought right in to the table and they are the same way at church. When Fr. Wayne was in Woburn, he found it too quiet, but when he got to East Boston, he found the planes flying so low over the house, he heard the stewardesses telling *him* to sit down. But what he finds the most difficult part of being pastor is the language barrier with the Vietnamese community. He feels he could be doing more to minister to the elderly Vietnamese community. They have priests who come in on the weekend for Masses, but they have difficulty ministering and reaching out during the weekend. He has been learning Vietnamese from the young people in the parish, and he's trying to learn the prayers of the Mass in that language. He finds the community to be quite stable. Even though people may move out of the city, they come back to the parish for Mass on Sunday with their parents or grandparents. They may live in Saugus or Lynn or Randolph, but they come back for Mass. This is true for both the Italian and Vietnamese communities. The Vietnamese community has many activities for the whole group from about 1pm until 8pm at night. Fr. Chris notes that the communities all have their own special traditions that continue to live on, whether Italian or Portuguese or Vietnamese. Fr. Chris celebrates Masses on the weekends and the community has embraced him. It is very welcoming. In their diversity, there is a unity. Scot asked what lessons Fr. Wayne has learned about bringing together merging parish communities. Fr. Wayne said East Boston at one time had 9 parishes, 11 worship sites (including the Madonna shrine and the airport chapel) and 7 schools. But the demographics changed and some of the churches could not be maintained. People were tied to and identified with their parish. But the people of Sacred Heart were ready to welcome others from outside. Out of the 7 schools, four pastors closed their schools and opened East Boston Central Catholic School in 1972, one of the first regional consolidated schools in the archdiocese. When Star of the Sea school closed, the parents from that school were invited over the next day. They didn't join the school. They became part of the family as one group together. They also recognize that they don't have all the answers. They are open to having a dialogue. The spiritual life of Sacred Heart took off when they welcomed these other communities in. **5th segment:** In his spare time, Fr. Wayne is studying for a doctorate in church history, as if he doesn't have enough to do. He's studying at Boston College School of Ministry. He received a Licentiate degree (STL) (which is the ecclesiastical academic degree equivalent of being halfway between a Master's and Doctorate). He has now moved on to the doctoral thesis stage. Scot said the history of the Church in East Boston must be amazing. So many of the ethnic parishes in the archdiocese have been closed because they were no longer needed for the original purpose of ministering to people of a particular language because people now spoke English or have moved out to the suburbs. In East Boston, there were two parishes across the street from each other. Fr. Wayne said ethnic parishes were established with an eye toward the own closure when they had helped the immigrant assimilate into the wider Catholic community. Instead, the national parishes become closely identified with the people. In East Boston, there were Spanish, French, Italian, Irish parishes. Over time, those groups moved on and other parishes moved in who didn't need the Mass in those languages. 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 Wayne Belschner. For our co-host, Father Chris O’Connor, 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!

**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry **Today's guest(s):** Deacon Dan Burns, director of Permanent Diaconate Formation for the Archdiocese of Boston * [Archdiocese of Boston's Permanent Diaconate office](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/deacon) * [BostonDiaconate.org](http://www.bostondiaconate.org) * [Holy Family Parish, Duxbury](http://holyfamilyduxbury.org/) * [Lumen Gentium, Vatican II, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church #29](http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19641121_lumen-gentium_en.html) * [What is a deacon?](http://bostondiaconate.org/Resources/what_is_a_deacon.html) * [Pope Paul VI's motu proprio Sacrum Diaconatus Ordinem](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/motu_proprio/documents/hf_p-vi_motu-proprio_19670618_sacrum-diaconatus_en.html) * ["Diocese suspends diaconate for new candidates," Worcester Catholic Free Press, 3/26/11](http://www.catholicfreepress.org/_Pages/_This%20Week/0318Diocese.html) **Today's topics:** The permanent diaconate **A summary of today's show:** Scot talks with Deacon Dan Burns about the permanent diaconate in the Archdiocese of Boston, his own calling to holy orders, the process of discernment and formation involving the men *and* their wives, and the future of the diaconate in the Church. **1st segment:** Scot welcomes all to the show. Yesterday was the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, and while we should pray for vocations to the priesthood we should also pray for all forms of service to the Church, including the permanent diaconate. The ministry of the permanent deacon was restored at Vatican II. There are about 36,000 deacons in the world, with about half in the US. Boston has 247 permanent deacons, which ranks the archdiocese 12th in the US. How are deacons formed for ministry? How does their family take part in the discernment process? **2nd segment:** Scot welcomes Deacon Dan Burns to the show. He was ordained to the diaconate in September 1998. He was 42 when he was ordained and started formation when he was 38. He was active in his parish with marriage prep, choir, confirmation retreats. The vocation sprung from that service and a mid-life crisis, in a sense. There was another man int he parish in formation for the diaconate who suggested to Deacon Dan he might have a vocation. His wife initially thought he was crazy, which is a fairly common reaction. She said he was already very busy and how would it fit into the family. Healthy skepticism is good for discernment. But she saw he had a call and one of the parish priests reinforced the call. It's very important to realize that this is a vocational call, not just a promotion for someone who helps out in the parish. There are already many ways to serve the Church. The discernment must come fro ma very deep prayer life, to feel the Spirit drawing you in this direction. There were a number of hurdles and he didn't get over all of them until his ordination. But the basic hurdles are considering how it would fit into family life, how he would fit it into his working life. He asked why would God be calling me? You tend to look at your own flaws and weaknesses and try to put it off because God "couldn't be calling me into this." The Church speaks of the deacon's ministry in three areas: Deacon of the Word, Deacon of the liturgy, and Deacon of charity. Deacon Dan felt his call was broad-based, but many feel called to a particular more than the others. All three of those are important parts of being a deacon. What is an average week in the life of a permanent deacon like? He's involved in Sunday Mass, to proclaim the Gospel in any Mass he's at, maybe one or more times in the week. He might have to do baptisms on Saturday or Sunday. Might be connected to religious education program in some way. For service, he's found himself ministering in hospice settings for the terminally ill. One part of formation was a summer internship in a hospital and he had been deathly afraid of hospitals, but his work has shown that it is a gift of grace to be invited to minister to the ill and their families. Scot asked how he balanced his various responsibilities? It was very difficult. He was wife was a great help to him to tell him he needed to say no to certain requests. Men called to the diaconate have a servant's heart and have a tendency to say yes to all requests. While the Spirit gives us gifts to do many things well, it doesn't mean we can do them all. What are the things priests do that deacons can do and not do? In formation, they focus on who the deacon is, not on what he does. The Church did fine without deacons for 1,500 years. The diaconate was restored to be a symbol to the Church and the world that we are all called to serve one another in Christ's name. That said, Deacons can perform baptisms, marriages, graveside services. They cannot celebrate Mass or hear confessions or the sacrament of the sick. Which one does he find himself enjoying more than others? Without question, it's baptisms, welcoming babies into the family of Christ. As a parent, he flashes back to when his own kids were baptized and the recognition of the beauty of life in these children. You find ways to bring all of the family into a celebration of that sacrament. **3rd segment:** There are 247 deacons in Boston, but that includes senior deacons who are over 75 and taking care of some ministry. In Boston, about 94% of deacons are married and there are some who have annulments. * [A Portrait of the Permanent Diaconate 2010, Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate](http://www.usccb.org/cclv/diaconate-post-ordination-report2009-2010.pdf) Discernment takes place in the whole family. The wife is involved in the first year which is called aspirancy. The wives are closely involved and hear and see everything so they can both determine if it fits within the family structure. The average of those entering formation are in late 40s or early 50s so in many families the kids are older, maybe in college, and the couples are empty-nesters. Deacon Dan is hopeful that they can invite men with younger families as well. They see in the Latino communities men who are younger and they need to find ways to involve the children in the process as well. If the wife doesn't consent, then the husband will not be allowed to enter the program. After aspirancy there is a formal process called candidacy during which the husband and wife have to sign a handwritten letter. They both have to sign before ordination as well. Married men have a primary vocation to their marriage and families. Deacons are called to bring the presence of Christ to the world and the wives are involved in that. There are sacrifices involved. That includes the husband serving in the Church for a number of hours. There is grace involved as well. There is a sacrifice of realizing that the husband is now in the public sphere, you are now very public people in a public role. 81% of permanent deacons in the US are white, 14% Hispanic, 2% African American, and 2% Asian. Deacon Dan said it's almost the same in Boston. The current aspirancy class is multicultural: 16 Latino, 7 white, 1 Brazilian, and 1 Vietnamese. The multicultural experience is very enriching. The Church in the US in the future will have a much larger Latino presence and this is true for the Archdiocese as well. **4th segment:** What are the attributes the Church looks for in a candidate for the diaconate? Deacon Dan said we're looking for is men who already deacons, in a sense. Looking to hone the men who are living a diaconal life, men who are supported by the parish through the priests and parishioners; who are serving their parishes. In Scripture, the deacons are chosen from among the community. Deacon Dan looks for the depth of their spiritual life. If they are deeply rooted in prayer with Christ as their foundation, then everything will go smoothly in formation. Of course, they will grow during formation. How do you assess how they can live the public aspects of the diaconate? Deacon Dan said it can be hard to project those things. There are men who don't show the attribute right away and can grow into them. A deacon is called to these three works of Word, sacrament, and charity, but you don't have to be experts in all of those. For those who are not outstanding in one area, they can take part, but concentrate in a different area. The minimum age for ordination is 35, so they would start the program in their early 30s. The maximum at ordination would be 65 because they enter senior status at 75. They also determine whether he can handle graduate level studies. It doesn't mean you have to have a college degree, but you have to have the ability to handle it. There is no limit on the number of aspirants per formation class size. In the last three years: 18 in 2009, 34 in 2010, 19 in 2011. Class sizes tend to be between 12 and 16. In general, there a few men each year who withdraw, whether they discern for themselves or the Church decides. If you know someone who might have these gifts, invite them to consider it. The Holy Spirit often speaks through other people to plant the seed. For men considering it, do some reading on the [USCCB web site](http://www.usccb.org/deacon/) or the book The Emerging Diaconate: Servant Leaders in a Servant Church. Talk to deacons you know. The office has a program each fall for men and women to hear about what's involved and then there a discernment retreat to help them take the next step. **5th segment:** The first year of the program is aspirancy. In years 2 through 4, they get into a lot of the work of study and formation. There are pillars of formation: pastoral, intellectual, human, and vocational. In the first year, they take 2 courses in Scripture and a series of seminars on the issue of discernment. The first semester is discerning from a spiritual perspective, how to pray to learn God's will. The second is focused on discernment of the diaconate life in particular. In the three years of candidacy, they take four courses each year. It parallels the Master of Arts in Ministry program and this fall men could use their courses toward an academic degree. There are also pastoral experiences, including in the second year working with the poor in an immersion program at Stonehill College, living there for 3 days serving people in the Brockton area. There's a summer internship between years 3 and 4 in a hospital chaplaincy, about 100 hours. They meet two evenings per week, 7-9pm, and one Saturday per month, 6-7 hours, mostly spiritual formation. Fall retreat for the men only and a spring retreat for couples. They recently added a second location in addition to the Pastoral Center in Braintree, at Merrimac College in North Andover. This September, the incoming college will be at the Pastoral Center for 4 years and in 2012, that class will meet at Merrimac. After ordination, they receive a pastoral assignment. Historically, men would be assigned to their home parish or a local parish, near their homes. In the future, with the demographics in the priesthood, we have to break through the idea of parochial view and have a more diocesan and global view of the Church. Future deacons could find a diocesan-based assignment, such as hospital chaplaincy. As deacons, they serve the needs of the bishop and so they work where the Cardinal sees the need. As a deacon, they are part of the clergy in the Archdiocese of Boston. Does it limit their ability to move out of the diocese as needs arise? There is an expectation that they are ordained for the Archdiocese, but the reality is that they have to make a living. Or someone retires and wants to spend part of their year in another place. In a new diocese, they could ask the local bishop to serve there. At age 75 they become senior deacons. They can continue to serve as their health allows, but they are not officially assigned to a particular parish. Deacons don't retire, they are ordained for life, just like priests. The neighboring diocese of Worcester has put their diaconate program on hiatus to update their program and to pray about whether the pastoral planning underway in Worcester will affect the number of deacons they'll need down the road. We've already gone through a similar process in Boston. The program went on hiatus for a year after a new set of guidelines came out from the US Bishops' Conference, to ensure that they're still working according to the highest standards. Deacon Dan says there would ideally be one deacon per parish to effectively show the servant nature of the Church. To those who are thinking about, listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit in your heart. Do not be afraid, as Bl. John Paul told us. We all will think we're not worthy, but God uses us anyway. 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, Deacon Dan Burns. For 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!

**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O'Connell **Today's guest(s):** Jennifer Schiller and Najat Whalen from Women in God's Spirit (WINGS) ministry * [WINGS](http://catholicwings.com/) **Today's topics:** Women in God's Spirit (WINGS), Sunday Mass readings **A summary of today's show:** Scot and Fr. Mark talk to Jen Schiller and Najat Whalen about Women in God's Spirit (WINGS), a parish-based ministry for Catholic women of all ages that helps them deepen their faith and become more connected to their community. Also, considering the Gospel for Good Shepherd Sunday. **1st segment:** Scot welcomed Fr. Mark to the program. Scot said he was the lector at the noon Mass at the Pastoral Center. Today is also the 30th anniversary of the assassination attempt on Bl. John Paul II, on the feast of Our Lady of Fatima. Twenty-nine years ago today, Pope John Paul went to Fatima to have the bullets removed from his chest placed in the crown of the statue of our Lady of Fatima because he credited her with saving his life. Cardinal Seán has been celebrating the Mass and leading the international pilgrimage in Fatima at the request of the Holy Father. Back at the Pastoral Center, after Mass, there was the May crowning of the statue of Mary. Also, today is the last day for a colleague of Scot's, Patrick Gispon, the Catholic Appeal manager, who is returning to Chicago, where his family is from. Fr. Mark said he was impressed to see the number of people who turned out to say goodbye to Patrick and the spirit of the people Scot affected. The "Why Catholic?" program, discussed on The Good Catholic Life earlier this week, also had one of its informational sessions. **2nd segment:** Scot and Fr. Mark welcome Jennifer Schiller and Najat Whalen. Scot asked Jen about WINGS. She said she participated in WINGS when she lived in Southern California as a young mom. She'd been invited to attend in her parish and found about 75 to 100 women who gathered weekly to learn about and grown in their faith. It was a ministry for all ages. They had childcare. It was an opportunity to learn more about her faith. When they relocated to Massachusetts, she was looking for something like WINGS so she approached her pastor who encouraged her to start it, about 11 years ago. There are now 11 groups in the Archdiocese. She started at her parish of St. Mary in Holliston. The other groups grew organically from women who came to their group and then wanted to do the same at their parish. Fr. Mark said he sees a pattern of people who have a great idea or experience and who don't wait for others to do something, but take initiative. Jen said she had lots of help. She had good encouragement from the pastor and after a couple of months they had about 8 to 10 women who were committed. They are all volunteers who want to help other women and grow in their faith. Najat said she became involed in 2005 when she was a CCD teacher and had a 5-year-old son entering school. She saw bulletin announcements and was attracted to the idea of deepening her faith and learning more. Eventually she became more involved because she was asked to become childcare coordinator and then program coordinator. Scot asked Jen if it's truly women of all ages or is it primarily one age group. She said it's truly all of them. When she started in 1995, she found herself in small groups with grandmothers and others. She found that meeting with women of all different perspectives helps them all in whatever place in their faith journey they find themselves. Jen said WINGS is not a national organization, but it is growing as women move from Southern California to other places. Each group is independent. They are made up women from the parish, but they have a spiritual adviser in the parish that helps them keep the ministry focused and on track. The suggested program is three seasons of six weeks each during the school year. They focus on areas of spiritual growth. In the fall, they focus on some area of the Catholic they want to learn about. In the winter, they focus on learning more about Scripture. In the spring, they have a series of speakers who come in to tell them how they are living out their faith. The whole year falls under a theme that the coordinating group puts together with the spiritual adviser. Najat said they begin the fall season in September and go through November. They have 7 speakers. The winter season starts after the holidays and the spring season ends in May. The typical meeting starts with a social time and coffee, followed by opening prayer and a song, then a speaker. After that they break into small groups to discuss three questions provided by the speaker. They end about 11:15 with a closing prayer. Fr. Mark said every parish has a core group of women who do everything in the parish. Does this attract those women or does it bring in women who aren't involved in many things? Jen said she does find it brings in both kinds of women. Consistency is the key. Women are welcome to attend one or all sessions. They are inviting women whenever they are ready and once they come, they come back because they find something that fulfills them. Women who are very involved in the church and always giving find in WINGS that they are receiving a lot from it. **3rd segment:** Scot asked Jen how WINGS has helped her to grow in her faith. She said it helped her to appreciate the gift of her faith. Many of the talks and presentations in the years since 1995 have opened her eyes and heart. Especially receiving a fuller understanding of the Real PResence and the gift that is Adoration. She didn't really understand that prior to experiencing it one of the WINGS talks. Also, the great saints of the church, stories of whom she now shares with her children. Scot asked the same of Najat. She said that she knows she's not alone in her faith. Being with a community of 60 women on a weekly basis helps her to know they are together, as they share their joys and sufferings. It's a safe, warm, and welcoming environment where you feel surrounded by friends. Being asked to speak at an event helped her to learn how to bring her faith out to the world. Fr. Mark asked what is the benefit in being only women. Jen said as a community of women, it is women coming together with different life experiences where you can feel you can share and grown and be who you are. There are good things that come from women gathering as women. He asked if other women have inspired Najat in her journey. She said everyone has inspired her, including the older women who are so wise while younger women share the same struggles and joys. Scot said the Gallup organization has surveyed religious groups and they have found that the most engaged people in religious communities are those who can say they have a best friend in the same group. Jen said she thinks WINGS has strengthened her parish. It nourishes women in their faith and builds them up. When the women leave those meetings, they bring that back to their families, other friends, to their work. And many find after participating in WINGS that they are inspired to get more involved in the parishes. Parish life is built up because women come together in their faith. Fr. Mark asked the experience of a new woman coming to an established group. Jen said it is absolutely not a clique. WINGS is a group that is constantly changing as women come and go, depending on their life situations. There is no prerequisite to joining. They can be a woman who is confident in her faith or someone who has many questions. Najat said that a big component of the ministry os the prayerful atmosphere so someone who is looking to experience prayer and to hear an inspiring prayer, then WINGS would fit them. Najat said they recently had three wonderful speakers on three saints. They had a series of speakers on the women doctors of the Church. In the winter Bible study, they looked at relating to others as Jesus would: relating to families, to seekers, to sinners, to people he met along the way, to people who rejected Him, to his friends. They had outside speakers as well as women-members who spoke on their own reflections on the Scripture. **4th segment:** Scot asked how many groups are in the Archdiocese. Najat said there are 11: * Amesbury MA, Holy Family Parish (meets Sunday evenings at 7:15 pm in lower hall of Sacred Heart Church) [www.hfamesbury.com](http://www.hfamesbury.com) * Holliston MA, St. Mary’s Parish (meets Wednesday mornings at 9:30 am in the church hall) [www.stmarysholliston.com](http://www.stmarysholliston.com) * Hopkinton MA, St. John the Evangelist Parish (meets Tuesday mornings in the parish hall) [stjohntheevangelisthopkinton.parishesonline.com](http://stjohntheevangelisthopkinton.parishesonline.com) * Lexington MA, St. Brigid Parish (meets Thursday mornings at 9:30 am) [www.lexingtoncatholic.org](http://www.lexingtoncatholic.org) * Marshfield MA, Our Lady of the Assumption Parish (meets Tuesday mornings at 9:15 am) * Middleborough MA, Sacred Heart Parish Rochester MA, St. Rose of Lima Lakeville MA, Saint Martha and Mary (meets Tuesday mornings at Fr. Shea Center, Sacred Heart Parish) [www.sacredheart-middleboro.org](http://www.sacredheart-middleboro.org) * Milton/Quincy MA, St. Agatha Parish (meets Wednesday evenings at 7:00 pm in the school hall) * Natick MA, St. Patrick Parish (meets Wednesday mornings at 9:30 am) [www.stpatsnatick.org](http://www.stpatsnatick.org) * Needham MA, St. Joseph Parish (meets Wednesday mornings at 9:45 am in the Linse room , lower church) [www.saintjoesparish.com](http://www.saintjoesparish.com) * North Andover MA, St. Michael Parish (meets Sunday evenings at 7 pm in church hall) [www.saint-michael.org](http://www.saint-michael.org) * Wellesley MA, St.Paul Parish (meets Monday evenings in the church hall) [www.stpaulwellesley.com](http://www.stpaulwellesley.com) Scot asked Jen what's involved in starting a WINGS ministry. She said the first step is prayer, to pray about whether you are called to start. Then talk to friends who might also be interested in starting the group. Then get in touch ([[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])) with the main group at CatholicWings.com to help plan and put a proposal together for the pastor. Ideally it should be 8-10 women who start it and then planning for 6 months up to 1 year. They will also come out to the parish to provide training as well as resources for finding speakers that have spoken at other groups. She said they have an archive of 10 years of seasons and speakers that new groups can use to build on. The women will want to choose a time that works for the parish, whether a day or evening. Ideally they would have a parish hall available, plus another room for childcare. At night, it's usually the same minus the babysitting. Most evening groups don't use babysitting, but that's not a rule. Fr. Mark asked about expenses. Jen said there are suggested annual membership dues, about $40. Those dues pay for the speakers who come in from outside the parish community. Jen said the relationship with the parish is getting the pastor's approval obviously and then a staff member who would be a spiritual adviser, like a DRE or pastoral associate who could meet with them a couple of times per year to give advice on topics, resources, and speakers. **5th segment:** As we do every week, Scot and Fr. Mark will consider this Sunday's Mass readings along with our guests to prepare for Sunday. * Gospel ([John 10:1-10](http://www.usccb.org/nab/051511.shtml#gospel)) >Jesus said: “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber. But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice, as the shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has driven out all his own, he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice. But they will not follow a stranger; they will run away from him, because they do not recognize the voice of strangers.” Although Jesus used this figure of speech, the Pharisees did not realize what he was trying to tell them. > >So Jesus said again, “Amen, amen, I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.” Jen said she found herself drawn to the line where it says a shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them. Many of us might not know that God is calling us in our lives and we have to take time to listen in our busy lives to hear Him. Where it says "they will not follow a stranger," it says to her that we have to build a relationship with Jesus to know Him and recognize His voice when He calls us. We need to find time every day to listen to His voice. Najat said she is reminded that the door is always open and Jesus is always there. Jesus always walks before us and we always know who to follow. Fr. Mark said it brings back an image from his first assignment. A previous pastor came back for the 40th anniversary of the parish. When he began to speak during the Eucharistic Prayer, the people started to smile because they recognized his voice from so many Masses said in that parish. Scot said at the end of the Gospel, Jesus says, "*I* came..." Jesus wants us to be happy in this life and the next which comes by following Him through that gate into heaven. He's always calling us. He doesn't call just once, but every day. We need to hear Him despite the noise of our everyday life. Jen said the thieves and robbers are the obstacles and false promises that come to us every day and the distractions that can lead us away from Christ. Don't get discouraged. When life gets difficult, Christ is even closer to us. Fr. Mark said we know the authentic voice in our heart of Christ despite all the other voices in the world. The voice of our conscience is the voice of Christ with us. This Sunday is also the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, which is tied to this Sunday as Good Shepherd Sunday. Scot encourages all to thank their priests this Sunday for being a shepherd. 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 guests, Jennifer Schiller and Najat Whalen. 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 weekend!

**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Susan Abbott **Today's guest(s):** Gregory Tracy, Managing Editor of The Pilot newspaper, and Father Roger Landry, Executive Editor of The Anchor newspaper. * [The Pilot](http://www.pilotcatholicnews.com) * [The Anchor](http://www.anchornews.org) **Today's topics:** Immigration reform, World Day of Prayer for Vocations, Pope Benedict on prayer, and more **A summary of today's show:** Scot and Susan talk with Fr. Roger Landry and Gregory Tracy about a Catholic response to the political question of immigration reform; Pope Benedict's advice on how dioceses should approach praying and preparing for vocations; the Holy Father's ongoing catechesis on prayer; and more in the news from The Pilot and The Anchor. **1st segment:** Scot welcomes Susan back to the show. Susan said she enjoyed yesterday's show on adult faith formation and would like to re-visit the topic of the US bishops' document on the subject again on the show some day. She's also getting involved in budget process for her office of Religious Education. The Archdiocese's fiscal year begins on June 1 and all the ministries are preparing plans and budgets for next year. **2nd segment:** Scot and Susan welcome Gregory and Fr. Roger back to the show. President Obama made a speech on May 10 in El Paso, Texas, and released a 34-page blueprint for immigration reform. He emphasized federal responsibility for immigration; to hold employers responsible for hiring illegals, create a system that provides for the demands of employment and family unification, and to hold people in the US illegally accountable for their action before enabling to get them on the right side of the law. * ["Obama launches new push for immigration reform," Catholic News Service, 5/11/11](http://www.catholicnews.com/data/briefs/cns/20110511.htm) * ["The Catholic voice in the immigration debate," Fr. Roger Landry, The Anchor, 6/25/10](http://www.anchornews.org/editorial/2010/june_25_2010.php) Gregory said the Church has always had a great interest in immigration reform, ensuring that whatever reforms are made respect human dignity. Scot said the President accused Republicans of moving the goal posts so that whatever Democrats offer, the Republicans always want more. Republicans shot back that the mission of securing the border has never been accomplished. Susan said we are all descendants of immigrants and need to welcome people, but we also need to be responsible. Sometimes when immigration is discussed, an elitist mindset comes out and that's not who we are as Catholics. The chairman of the US bishops' committee on immigration is Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles, who is himself an immigrant. Fr. Roger said Gomez says we are talking here about brothers and sisters in Christ and we need keep that in mind in any conversation about immigration reform. He also says the Church is not a political party and we're not advocating any particular policy, but we're promoting an attitude of respect and welcoming. Archbishop Gomez also said that anti-Hispanic bias is a factor in some of the conversation about reform. Scot said Archbishop Gomez's letter last year said 10 million illegals are in the country, so what we do we do with them. While we have to uphold our laws, we have to ask what is proper and just. From a moral standpoint, he concludes that deporting immigrants is too severe a penalty. He suggests intensive long-term community service. Gregory thinks it's a reasonable suggestion and it's important to remember that this is a question of civil law, not criminal law. Susan quoted a priest from Fall River who said, "If you are baptized, you are home." Fr. Landry said we have to treat them like human beings rather than treat then like they're doing something horrible by trying to work and feed their kids. This is their experience in New Bedford after the big immigration raid on a Defense Dept. contractor in 2007 that resulted in the arrests of dozens of undocumented aliens. **3rd segment:** Fr. Roger's editorial this week in the Anchor is on the World Day of Vocations, which is this Sunday. This year, the Holy Father's message speaks of the work of dioceses in forming and recruiting vocations. * [Pope Benedict's message of the 48th World Day of Prayer for Vocations](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/messages/vocations/documents/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20101115_xlviii-vocations_en.html) Fr. Roger said the day normally occurs on Good Shepherd Sunday, which is now the fourth Sunday of Easter. Jesus knew there would always be a vocations crisis, which is why He told us that the harvest is great and the laborers are few. Pope Benedict describes the vitality of a local Church as being seen in the ability to foster vocations. He notes that in certain places vocations are thriving and in others they are sterile. Pope Benedict said: 1. Pray 2. Train young people a total commitment to Christ and in love 3. Help young people to hear the voice of God in the cacophony of the world 4. Take advantage of every opportunity to promote vocations: in families, in parishes, and in our communities. Fostering vocations starts with forming your children from a young age. Scot said Cardinal Seán always says that vocations are everyone's business, not just priests or bishops. Susan said our religious education programs promote the call to vocation at all ages. We have to ask the question of the young people we meet because God's voice is being drowned out and so they need to hear from us. One of the best advertisements for vocations is seeing a priest so in love with his ministry. But we have to raise the topic with the young men in our lives. Gregory said vocations don't come from a vacuum. It's particularly important to understand the connectedness to the vocation of marriage. When a couple truly lives the vocation of marriage, their children will see the importance of vocation, whether it be marriage or religious life or priesthood and it's not a foreign concept to them. **4th segment:** In his general audience on Wednesday, Pope Benedict gave the second installment in what will be a long series of catechetical talks on prayer in the Christian life. * [Pope Benedict's message to the General Audience on 5/11/11](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2011/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20110511_en.html) * ["Prayer reveals Man's need for God, says Pope," Zenit, 5/11/11](http://www.zenit.org/article-32548?l=english) >In our catechesis on Christian prayer, we have seen how prayer is part of the universal human experience. Our own age, marked by secularism, rationalism and an apparent eclipse of God, is showing signs of a renewed religious sense and a recognition of the inadequacy of a purely horizontal, material vision of life. Man is made in the image of God; a desire for God is present in every heart and man in some way knows that he is capable of speaking to God in prayer. Saint Thomas Aquinas tells us that prayer is the expression of our desire for God, a desire which is itself God’s gift. Prayer is first and foremost a matter of the heart, where we experience God’s call and our dependence on his help to transcend our limitations and sinfulness. The posture of kneeling at prayer expresses this acknowledgment of our need and our openness to God’s gift of himself in a mysterious encounter of friendship. Let us resolve to pray more frequently, to listen in the silence of our hearts to God’s voice, and to grow in union with the God who has revealed himself in Jesus Christ, with the One who is infinite Love. Susan recalled St. Augustine's quote: "You have made us for yourself O Lord and our hearts will not rest until they rest in you" and thinks it echoes with Pope Benedict's quote of St. Thomas Aquinas. Gregory was struck by the statement that to really pray is hard work. We have to consciously listen to God. It's hard to set aside prayer time in our busy lives and it's easy to say, "I prayed" with a quick tossed off prayer, but it's hard to set aside time for serious prayer. Fr. Roger said Pope Benedict also said in his audience that man is religious by nature. He is as much homo religiosus (religious man) as he is homo sapiens. To Pray is to feel that meaning in the world is outside the world. The school exists as a school of prayer to teach them to prayer. Prayer is faith in action and sometimes it comes in the least likely of circumstances. An anecdote of a man who said: "Lord, help me I don't know how to pray." The Lord replied, "You are already doing it." Scot highlighted the Pope's further words from the audience: >Man bears within himself a thirst for the infinite," he continued, "a nostalgia for eternity, a search for beauty, a desire for love, a need for light and truth, which drive him toward the Absolute; man bears within himself the desire for God. And man knows, in some way, that he can address himself to God, that he can pray to him." >The Pontiff said that the attraction toward God "is the soul of prayer, which is cloaked in many forms and modalities according to the history, time, moment, grace and finally the sin of each one of those who pray." >He added that prayer is a mindset, and not a "series of practices and formulas." Prayer, he said, is "a way of being before God, rather than carrying out acts of worship or pronouncing words." Other great stores in the Pilot and the Anchor this week: * In the Pilot, Fr. Thomas Morgan passed to the Lord. He had been pastor in Salisbury since the mid-1970s. * In the Anchor, 75 years after "the Little Rose" died, many people are still working for her canonization. * In the Pilot, Fr. Dick Rieman, priest of Opus Dei, reflects on his personal experience of St. Josemaria Escriva. * Also in the Pilot, more info on [Why Catholic?: Journey Through the Catechism](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/whycatholic.aspx?pid=464)

**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Chip Hines, pastor of St. Mary Parish, Wrentham **Today's guest(s):** Sister Terry Rickard, President of Renew International, Janet Benestad, Secretary for Faith Formation and Evangelization for the Archdiocese of Boston, and Mary Ann McLaughlin, Co-Director of the Office of Worship and Spiritual Life and Director of Arise: Together in Christ * [Renew International](http://www.renewintl.org/) * ["Our Hearts Were Burning Within Us": A Pastoral Plan for Adult Faith Formation in the United States](http://www.nccbuscc.org/education/ourhearts.htm) * [Arise: Together in Christ](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/ARISE.aspx?pid=464) * [Why Catholic?: Journey Through the Catechism](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/whycatholic.aspx?pid=464) **Today's topics:** Adult faith formation and the new program called Why Catholic? **A summary of today's show:** Scot and Fr. Chip talk with Sr. Terry Rickard, Janet Benestad, and Mary Ann McLaughlin about adult faith formation and the new program in the Archdiocese of Boston called "Why Catholic?" that will take parishioners through the Catechism. **1st segment:** Scot welcomes Fr. Chip as a substitute co-host for Fr. Matt Williams who is traveling. He has been pastor at St. Mary's for three years as of May 1. He's working hard to try some new things, bringing people closer together and bring people back to God. He also co-hosts the movie review show Spotlight with Fr. Bill Kelly on CatholicTV. He's been a big fan of movies as long as he can remember. They've completed their second season of the show. Scot said they'll be speaking today about the centrality of adult faith formation in the Archdiocese of Boston and specifically about the new program following on Arise and Catholics Come Home called Why Catholic? Fr. Chip said he's excited to hear about these programs coming from the archdiocese because not every parish has the resources to do it all on their own and re-inventing the wheel. **2nd segment:** Scot welcomes Sr. Terry and Janet to the show. Scot said most of what Renew does is helping dioceses and parishes with adult faith formation. Renew came out of the renewal of the Second Vatican Council and focuses on the methodology of small groups. They have worked in 24 countries and 160 dioceses in the US over the past 30 years. Currently they are working in 51 dioceses. Scot said there are about 176 dioceses in the US. Scot said to Janet that the US bishops wrote in a document about 10 years ago that adult faith formation is central to the mission of the Church. Janet said Bl. John Paul wrote in [Catechesi Tradendae](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-ii_exh_16101979_catechesi-tradendae_en.html) about this centrality for the first time. Our parishes do a good job educating and forming children, but we haven't done as well at ongoing formation for adults. Scot said he was surprised to read in the US bishops' document: >The Church wisely and repeatedly insists that adult faith formation is "essential to who we are and what we do as Church" and must be "situated not at the periphery of the Church's educational mission but at its center." While most Catholic parishes place a high priority on the faith formation of children and youth, far fewer [Catholic parishes] treat adult faith formation as a priority. Fr. Chip said it's important that we do it, but we're not doing it. We're so focused with our limited resources on forming children that we let parents and other adults slip through the cracks. He did a formation series last fall on Church history and it was sporadically attended. But that can't be discouraging because people do tell him they want such formation. We just have to find what works for them. The US bishops said well-formed adults are our next generation of catechists and other volunteers within the parish. Sr. Terry said such programs are not just informational transferral, but information for transformation of the person. At Renew they start where people are at and as people gather in the small groups, they start with prayer, then read the Word of God, and then apply it to their lives. Fr. Chip asked Sr. Terry how do you involve young parents, with everything that they have going on in their lives? She said you can't do adult faith formation without evangelization and you need evangelization strategies. The strategies of inviting are important. Part of Renew's success is that the groups can meet at any time, any day. You can have many groups with a variety of times. Scot said the US bishops' document talks about the characteristics of a spiritually mature faith: frequent reading of the word of God, sacred writings of our tradition, and the official documents of the Church; involvement in the community life and mission of the Church; personal prayer; participation in the works of justice and service to the poor; and the fulfillment of our human obligations in family and society through the active practice of love for God and neighbor. It goes on: >A living faith is a searching faith-—it "seeks understanding." Adults need to question, probe, and critically reflect on the meaning of God's revelation in their unique lives in order to grow closer to God. A searching faith leads to deepening conversion. Janet said so much of the confusion about the faith is that when people hear what the Church says about a controversial issue, they just shut down rather than to study and learn and understand. Taking seriously the practice of faith within the community and taking seriously the formation of conscience are fundamental to faith. Adult faith formation takes seriously the obligation to give answers or help people seek answers. The Church wants you to question what she says, but not to just stop there. Find the truth and be open to the truth wherever it is found. Doing this in a group is a way to help each other find their way.Sr. Terry said the methodology of the small groups is to see, judge (based on the truth of Scripture and Tradition, applying it to our lives), and then turn it into action. Scot said research tells us that those who are most engaged in the parish are those who have one of their best friends in the parish and so faith-sharing groups can nurture acquaintances into friendships and deepen friendships even more. **3rd segment:** Scot said the Bishops' document talked about six dimensions that good adult faith formations programs would include: knowledge of the faith, liturgical life, moral formation, prayer, communal life, and missionary spirit. The idea is to pick one or two at a time and grow a little bit in the different seasons of our lives. Fr. Chip said missionary spirit and communal life often get left behind. People pretty much know how to pray and people come to Mass, but when he talks about going out and proclaiming faith in what they say and what they do, they balk at that. People like to keep their faith in a box on a shelf and take it out for a time on Sundays. The Church tells us you can't do that. He talks about community all the time to stress that Church is a place to come any time. Scot said there are 5 different places for learning: in families, large groups, individual and self-study, and individual activities. Scot would add programs of the various Catholic media. Scot asked Sr. Terry why small group faith formation has proven to be so successful. Sr. Terry said when Renew was founded in New Jersey, the two priests who began it had been active in the Catholic family movement and the RCIA and both of those had been successful with small groups. If we're bringing in people through RCIA, then we want the parishes to have that same experience of small group faith-sharing. Scot said that in his professional experience as a manager, he's found that people have different learning styles and he's had to adapt to other learning styles. Sr. Terry said small-group learning is so good because our faith is communal and is essentially lived together. Renew is also exploring new media, just starting podcasts and webinars and creating a [Facebook page](http://www.facebook.com/RENEWIntl). Scot asked Janet about her hopes for Why Catholic? This will be the opportunity to get the Catechism into the hands of thousands of Catholics in the Archdiocese and the small faith-sharing groups will help people overcome their discomfort at approaching a new document. Why Catholic? begins with the last section of the Catechism on Prayer because they've found it to be most effective. Fr. Chip said the new [YouCat](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1586175165/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=pilo0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399349&creativeASIN=1586175165) youth catechism would be effective for adults as well as youth. Janet agreed because it gives a beautiful treatment of the topics covered by the universal Catechism. She said the new [US Catechism for Adults](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1574554506/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=pilo0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399349&creativeASIN=1574554506) would be suitable as well. YouCat is in a question and answer format that works well for some people. Janet said Pope Benedict wrote the introduction for YouCat and it's an explicit invitation to those who may have been away from the Church. **4th segment:** Scot welcomes Mary Ann McLaughlin to the show. Mary Ann led ARise and now leads the Why Catholic? program. Why is it a good followup to Arise. She said small groups has proven to be an essential experience to the life of the Church. She said Cardinal Sean confirms that one needs to be immersed in the community when learning the language of faith, just like immersion helps one learn a foreign language. The small community in faith-sharing gives us a place to learn that language of faith. Of course, the Church has always had small groups: Cursillo, prayer groups, Bible studies. Gathering in community is the nature of the Church. Scot asked Sr. Terry for an overview of Why Catholic? They are starting this week with informational sessions on the program for pastors and parish leaders. Similar to Arise, parishes will have teams of 8-12 people to prepare and get the word out. In October, there will be a training on implementing Why Catholic? In January, there will be a small community leader training on the first book, Prayer, which is actually the fourth pillar of the Catechism. They've found that people are open to learning about prayer and an deepening the relationship with God opens them to more. They will do six weeks in the spring and then another six weeks in the fall. In the second year, they will study the Creed. The third year, the sacramental life of the Church. The fourth year, the moral life of the Church. Scot said each of the semesters is structured as six lessons. Mary Ann said the lessons start with an opening prayer, then a reflection of a human experience, then a Scripture, then questions to jumpstart faith-sharing, then an invitation to act. The invitation to act has worked to cause people to think about what has just been prayed and taught and to ask how it works in their life. What starts individually often ends up becoming the groups asking what they can do together. Sr. Terry said each small group has about 8-12 people meeting in someone's home. There is a one trained leader. The sessions are 90 minutes. Some people do a lectionary-based prayer in between the six-week sessions. **5th segment:** Welcome back. It’s time to announce the winner of the weekly WQOM Benefactor Raffle. Our prize this week is a copy of the book “[Synergy: Science Reasons with Atheists](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1601040342/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=pilo0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399349&creativeASIN=1601040342),” from BrideGroomPress.com. Historian and theologian Steven Kellmeyer has assembled over 50 of the most common questions about science and faith in order to lay out the clear, concise answers you have been looking for. This week’s winner is **Ann Bouchard of Nashua, New Hampshire**. Congratulations Ann! If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit WQOM.org. For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for our weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. **6th segment:** Scot said Cardinal Sean has sent a letter to all pastors about Why Catholic? and encouraging them to take part. Scot said that Renew working with an archdiocese is able to take a good program and make it available to every parish and in many different languages for many different cultures. In Boston, for the first time they'll make the materials available in Chinese for Why Catholic? Scot asked her what the group leaders do and how they can let their pastors know they're interested. The pastor works with the pastoral council to come up with the names of people who would be willing to be leaders. The parish leader then goes to training sessions where they receive tools and support from the archdiocesan office and Renew directly. The small group leaders also go to regional training sessions. Fr. Chip asked if it's beneficial for a parish to have a professional staff be the local leader? Sr. Terry said most of the time the leaders are volunteers, but if a parish has a staff member like that, then they should be at least on the team. They don't want to overburden religious ed directors. Mary Ann said people can learn about Why Catholic by calling 617-779-3640 or by going to the website of BostonCatholic or Renew International (see above). 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 guests, Sister Terry Rickard, Mary Ann McLaughlin, and Janet Benestad. For our co-host, Father Chip Hines, 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!