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Showing posts with the label vocation

Homeschooling parents, you can change the world!

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  This past weekend I attended the Minnesota Catholic Home Education Conference.  I heard two excellent talks and discovered interesting materials I had never seen before. I would like to spend the next few weeks here reflecting on what I learned. Those of you who were not able to attend a conference this year can consider this a mini-conference–free of charge! Long-time homeschooler Ginny Sueffert spoke on “How Catholic Homeschoolers are Changing American Culture.” She told the story of Catholic education in America, with a much more positive perspective than you often hear from homeschool experts. She emphasized, however, that Catholic schools have largely been secularized since the 1960s. According to Sueffert, 100 American dioceses are requiring their schools to follow the Obama Administration’s controversial Common Core Standards . Sueffert believes that Catholic homeschoolers have really taken over the role the parish schools used to play in Catholic life.

'But at your word . . .' Sunday Reflections, 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C

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Miraculous Draught of Fishes ,  Raphael , 1515 [ Web Gallery of Art ] Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)  Gospel  Luke 5:1-11   (Revised Standard Version – Catholic Edition) While the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret. And he saw two boats by the lake; but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. And when he had ceased speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch." And Simon answered, "Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets." And when they had done this, they enclosed a great sho

'At once they left their nets and followed him', Sunday Reflections, 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B

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Calling of Peter and Andrew , Duccio di Buoninsegna, painted 1308-11 Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Gospel   Mark 1:14-20   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)  After John had been arrested, Jesus went into Galilee. There he proclaimed the Good News from God. ‘The time has come’ he said ‘and the kingdom of God is close at hand. Repent, and believe the Good News.’ As he was walking along by the Sea of Galilee he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net in the lake – for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me and I will make you into fishers of men.’ And at once they left their nets and followed him. Going on a little further, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John; they too were in their boat, mending their nets. He called them at once and, leaving their father Zebedee in the boat with the men he employed, they went after him. An Soiscéal

'Come and see'. Sunday Reflections, 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B

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St Andrew ,  Francois Duquesnoy, 1629-33 This Sunday is observed in the Philippines as the Feast of the Santo Niño or Holy Child. You can find the Sunday Reflections for that feast here .   Readings  (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)    Gospel  John 1:35-42  (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) As John stood with two of his disciples, Jesus passed, and John stared hard at him and said, ‘Look, there is the lamb of God.’ Hearing this, the two disciples followed Jesus. Jesus turned round, saw them following and said, ‘What do you want?’ They answered, ‘Rabbi,’ – which means Teacher – ‘where do you live?’ ‘Come and see’ he replied; so they went and saw where he lived, and stayed with him the rest of that day. It was about the tenth hour. One of these two who became followers of Jesus after hearing what John had said was Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter. Early next morning, Andrew met his

'Engineer brothers down tools for life in the priesthood'

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Fr James Doyle, Fr Brian Doyle OP, Bro Rory Doyle OFMConv The photo above, courtesy of the Irish Dominicans, was taken on Saturday 3 September in Murrintown, County Wexford, in the south-west of Ireland, when Father Brian was ordained priest by Bishop Denis Brennan of Ferns. His brother Father James (Jim) is a priest in the Diocese of Ferns, which includes most of County Wexford, and his twin Brother Rory is also preparing for the priesthood as a Conventual Franciscan. The three brothers are featured in today's Irish Independent : Engineer brothers down tools for life in the priesthood . The twins have doctorates in engineering. Father Jim worked with the Irish agency Concern in Cambodia and Burundi and found his vocation there. Father Brian with his parents Joan and Brian senior ( Irish Dominican Vocations ) Ten years ago I did mission appeals on behalf of the Columbans in the Diocese of Lancaster in the north-west of England. I met two of the three Burns brothers who, like t

The Calling of St Matthew

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Fr Finbarr Maxwell, a Columban from Dublin who worked before in Pakistan and is studying in the USA at present, drew this painting to my attention when he gave a group of us here in the Philippines a retreat three or four years ago. The gospel of today's Mass for the Feast of St Matthew has a starkness and urgency about it. It's not how most of us hear our vocation or call, whatever it may be, from Jesus. Fr Mike McGovern in the video points out that while Jesus and St Peter are dressed as men of their time and place, Matthew and his companions are dressed as contemporaries of Caravaggio. In other words, Jesus calls us where we are and in our times. Matthew 9:9-13 (RSV Catholic Edition) As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax office; and he said to him, "Follow me." And he rose and followed him. And as he sat at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his dis

Baby Paul's Heart and Ours

by Sherry Antonetti **First ran in The Catholic Standard, September 11, 2008.  “Will you accept the blessing of children lovingly from God?” In every Catholic wedding, the priest asks the question and the couple responds. There isn’t a caveat or a footnote or an asterisk to that particular answer or question, designed to explain away exceptions or alternatives. It is a promise a couple makes to God in the process of obediently submitting to the sacrament of marriage. The choice to have children was made on that altar amidst family and friends, prayers and flowers. “Yes.” As the mother of eight, soon to be nine children, even total strangers have remarked to me, “You must have wanted a large family.” No. I have to confess, that wasn’t my plan at all. I planned to get a PhD and run a school, and maybe one day teach English at my Alma Mater. That was my plan. I loved my husband to be and we had dutifully gone through the pre-marital inventory, had the interviews with our bishop,

50 years with the Columbans

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Fr Aedan McGrath On the first Tuesday of September 1961 - the date was the 5th - I and more than 40 other young men entered St Columban's College, Dalgan Park, Navan, about 40 kms north-west of my native Dublin, hoping to be Columban priests one day and heading off to Chile, Fiji, Japan, Korea, Peru or the Philippines about seven years later. As it happened, some were to find their way to Pakistan, which became a Columban mission in 1978 along with Taiwan. I was then 18 but since I was 14 had wanted to be a missionary priest. I decided on the Columbans when I was 16 but had to wait to do my Leaving Certificate. I went to Dalgan Park in Easter Week 1961 to be interviewed and have a medical examination. I was very happy when accepted. Then I had to get a black suit, some white shirts and a black tie, not to mention a black hat, required in those days. One thing was niggling me: what would my parents think if I ever decided to leave? The term 'spoiled priest'

'"Come" said Jesus.' Sunday Reflections, 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A, 7 August 2011

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   Come Jesus says, ‘Come, through all the turmoil, the storms which threaten to engulf me. He calls out to me. He wants to pull me towards him. Jesus is present in the storms of my life. He is in the boat with me. He says, ‘Trust me!’ He is also saying, ‘I need you. We’re a balancing act, dancing together! I need you to believe in me. I need you to be me on earth. You need my power and love to grow and reveal me to your brothers and sisters. When you don’t trust, you sink! You are swallowed up in life’s sorrows. You block my power to work through you’. The painting and reflection above are by Sr Maria Forrestal, an Irish Franciscan Missionary of Mary who has worked in the Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic for many years. Among other things, Sister Maria maintains the excellent website of the Catholic Church in the Faroes .    Readings (New American Bible, used in the Philippines and the USA).   Gospel (Matthew 14:22-33; Jerusalem Bible, used in Australia, England & Wa