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New World Youth Day 2016 (WYD2016) logo unveiled with explanation and accompanying prayer

(VIS) – In a press conference held this morning the metropolitan archbishop of Krakow, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, presented the logo and official prayer for the 31st World Youth Day.

Three elements are combined in the symbolism of the logo: the place, the main protagonists , and the theme of the celebration. The logo of the 2016 World Youth Day, to be held in Krakow, illustrates the passage from the Gospel according to Matthew, 5.7: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy”, chosen as the theme of the event. 

The image is composed of a geographical outline of Poland, in which there is a Cross, symbol of Christ Who is the soul of World Youth Day. The yellow circle marks the position of Krakow on the map of Poland and is also a symbol of youth. The flame of Divine Mercy emerges from the Cross, and its colors recall the image “Jesus, I trust in you”. The colors used in the logo – blue, red and yellow – are the official colors of Krakow and its coat of arms.

The logo was designed by Monika Rybczynska, a young woman aged 28 from Ostrzeszow, a small town in the mid-west of Poland, following the canonization of St. John Paul II.

The press conference also included the presentation of the official prayer of World Youth Day 2016, which entrusts humanity and the young to divine mercy, asks the Lord for the grace of a merciful heart, and asks the intercession of the Virgin Mary and St. John Paul II, patron of World Youth Day.

“God, merciful Father,in your Son, Jesus Christ, you have revealed your love and poured it out upon us in the Holy Spirit, the Comforter,We entrust to you today the destiny of the world and of every man and woman”.

We entrust to you in a special way young people of every language, people and nation:guide and protect them as they walk the complex paths of the world today and give them the grace to reap abundant fruits from their experience of the Krakow World Youth Day.

Heavenly Father,grant that we may bear witness to your mercy.Teach us how to convey the faith to those in doubt,hope to those who are discouraged,love to those who feel indifferent,forgiveness to those who have done wrong and joy to those who are unhappy.

Allow the spark of merciful love that you have enkindled within us become a fire that can transform hearts and renew the face of the earth. 

Mary, Mother of Mercy, pray for us. St. John Paul II, pray for us.

Former sex slaves to take part in South Korea Mass with Pope

(CNA).- A group of South Korean women who were used as sex slaves by the Japanese army during World War II will attend an Aug. 18 Mass with Pope Francis when he visits the country.

According to local media reports, the Archdiocese of Seoul announced on Monday that it had invited the women to take part in the ceremony with Pope Francis. The Mass will be held at the Cathedral of Myeongdong in Seoul. A personal meeting between the pontiff and the women, many of whom are Catholic, has not been set.

Pope Francis will visit South Korea Aug. 14-18 to take part in the VI Asian Youth Day. It will be the third time a pontiff has visited Asia, the last time being St. John Paul II’s trip to the Korean peninsula in 1989.

Some 200,000 young girls and teenagers – more than half of whom were Korean – were forced to become sex slaves by the Japanese empire, which ruled Korea from 1910 to 1945.

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Pope Francis banner in downtown Denver aims to inspire

(CNA/EWTN News).- A 10-foot tall banner depicting Pope Francis embracing a young child was hung July 1 on the exterior of the Samaritan House homeless shelter in downtown Denver, as a reminder of the need for loving service and encounter.

“This beautiful image illustrates the Holy Father’s vision of love and charity in Jesus Christ,” said Wendy Oldenbrook, director of marketing and communications at Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese of Denver.

The banner shows Pope Francis embracing a child present at his inauguration Mass in St. Peter’s Square last year.

“We seek to live out this vision every day at Catholic Charities in service to the poor,” Oldenbrook said in a statement.

She explained to CNA July 2 that the Samaritan House rotates banners frequently. Previous banners have included images of the Divine Mercy of Jesus and the Good Samaritan.

The Pope Francis banner was put up with the hope that the image will communicate “kindness, respect for the most vulnerable, and the joy of serving others.”

Click here to read more.

How self-acceptance might just save the world; or at least priests

I couldn't help but think of the many priests we pray for on a daily basis when reading this blog post by Dr. Kelly Flanagan from Wheaton, IL.  As we approach the 4th of July, may we see ourselves for who we are so we don't see our priests for who they're not.  Like us, they can be heroic at times, but they are always human.

____

When I was in middle school, I was forbidden to see the new Batman movie starring Michael Keaton. I understand why:

He was complicated.

He was a superhero, but he was depicted as dark and disturbed and a little unhinged. Instead of wearing his trademark gray, he cloaked himself in black. Instead of telling jokes, he was somber and depressed. He did good things, but he did them for the wrong reasons. He was a complicated, tortured soul, working out his redemption in the best way he knew how.

He was a good guy, but he had bad parts.

In a word, he was human.

Now, almost twenty-five years later, our cinematic superheroes are increasingly complicated. They are good guys with bad parts. We’ve become quite comfortable with the complexity of our fictional characters.

Yet, we continue to resist, and fail to embrace, this complexity in our lives and in our hearts…

Pedestals and Pitfalls

We scan the horizon for the next real-life hero, and we imagine them to be flawless. We put people on pedestals. And then we get surprised when they fall off:

We idolize people with great golf swings, and then we find out they’re addicted to sex. We idolize the triumph of bicyclists, and then we find out they were juicing. We tell ourselves our political candidate is the good guy, and then he leaves his microphone on and we hear words that are only supposed to come from the bad guys. We get dismayed when we find out the Dalai Lama gets just as angry as we do.

So we continue to scan the horizon, waiting for the next infallible hero to lead us.

The truth is, all of this hero worship is a collective exercise in self-rejection.

We look inside of our own hearts and we see the bad parts lingering there and we assume we must not be one of the good guys. We look in the mirror and we don’t see a flawless hero; we see a complicated human. And we forget what the superhero movies have been trying to tell us for a quarter of a century:

Humans and heroes are one and the same.

Dr. Kelly Flanagan is a licensed clinical psychologist, practicing at Alliance Clinical Associates in Wheaton, IL. He is also a writer and blogs regularly about the redemption of our personal, relational, and communal lives. Kelly is married, has three children, and enjoys learning from them how to be a kid again. You can find him on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.

Pope selects Michigan priest to become bishop of Gaylord, MI

(CNA) Pope Francis has named Monsignor Steven J. Raica of the Diocese of Lansing to become the next bishop of Gaylord, Mich.

“In these days, as I prepare myself to serve the People of God in the northern part of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula as a new bishop, I offer my praise and gratitude to the Lord Jesus whose presence in my life has enabled me to experience an abundance of life,” Bishop-designate Raica said June 27.

“My gratitude also goes to Pope Francis for entrusting me with this honor and great responsibility.”

Bishop-designate Raica, 61, asked for prayers that he may “serve the Lord totally and faithfully” in his position in Gaylord.

Bishop Earl Boyea of Lansing praised the bishop-to-be as “a good priest, a good friend, and a man of good counsel” who is “gentle, considerate, and solid in his pastoral abilities.” He said the bishop will be “an intelligent, cultured, pastoral, gentle, and faith-filled leader of the Church.”

“The entire Diocese of Lansing offers him our heartiest congratulations and prayers!” Bishop Boyea said in a statement.

Coadjutor Archbishop Bernard Hebda of Newark, the previous Bishop of Gaylord, welcomed the appointment. He said he has known the bishop-designate for over 25 years. The archbishop praised his “pastoral zeal, collaborative spirit, and intellectual gifts.”

“I believe that he will be an excellent shepherd – after the Heart of Jesus – for a flock that I will always remember as being incredibly loving.”

Bishop-designate Raica is currently chancellor of the Lansing diocese.

He was born Nov. 8, 1952, in Munising, Mich., to Mary and Steve Raica. In 1978, Lansing’s then-bishop Kenneth Povish ordained him to the priesthood, the Lansing diocese said. Pope John Paul II named him a prelate of honor in 1998.

He has a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Michigan State University in East Lansing as well as a master’s degree in divinity from St. John Provincial Seminary in Plymouth, Mich., and a master’s degree in religious studies from the University of Detroit.

Bishop-designate Raica served as associate pastor or pastor at Catholic churches in Burton, Flint, Ovid, Charlotte and Bellevue. He served as co-rector of Lansing’s St. Mary Cathedral and chaplain of Olivet College in Olivet.

He was also superior of Casa Santa Maria, the North American College’s graduate studies house in Rome. He served as spiritual director and adjunct faculty at the college from 1999-2005. From 2007-2009, he was vice postulator of the sainthood cause of Servant of God Antonietta Meo, a devout Italian girl who died of cancer at the age of six in 1937.

The future bishop has worked in deaf ministry and is capable of conversing in sign language as well as Italian and Polish. He is able to read Latin, French, Spanish and German.

He is a music lover with an affinity for classical, jazz, classical organ and choral music. He enjoys...

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Toughing It Out: Tekton Ministries Announces Sponsorship of Popular T3 Endurance Race

Tekton Ministries is excited to announce sponsorship of the up-and-coming endurance race, Tame the Terrain (T3).

Richard Sontag, Director of Tekton Ministries Catholic Pilgrimages, Media and Non-Profit Management announced the sponsorship last month as an opportunity to support a local, Indiana-based, non-profit organization seeking to promote holistic wellness through the increasingly popular endurance race format.

According to the mission statement found on the Facebook page for Tame the Terrain, “T3 promotes physical health, determination, and character building. We want participants to come away from T3 having a positive experience and feeling as though they've accomplished both physical and mental goals.”

“Who wouldn’t want to help an organization like this,” said Sontag. “They aren’t just running through obstacle courses to boost their own egos. They might be carrying tires over tough terrain and climbing muddy hills but it’s for a purpose.”

What is that purpose?

Not only does the race help promote the physical health, determination, and character building of participants in a Christian way, but, according to their Facebook page, the proceeds earned by Tame the Terrain benefit Youth and Young Adult Ministry of the three Catholic parishes of Jennings County: St. Ann, St. Joseph, St. Mary’s.

“I know that by sponsoring this event we are fulfilling our own mission,” said Sontag. “We are able to serve God’s people on their journey of faith. In this case, on an obstacle course along that journey of faith.”

“You’ve got to meet people where they’re at,” he said. “The organizers of T3 seek to do that and so I wanted to help them however I could.”

Tame the Terrain is roughly a four mile obstacle race that takes participants up and down the hills of Jennings County, trekking rock walls, ravines, cliffs, ponds, and the Muscatatuck River. Participants are challenged by 20 different obstacles set within the terrain of Muscatatuck County Park, Indiana.

More information about the T3 race, including a photo gallery of previous races, can be found on the organization’s website at http://www.tametheterrain.com. More information about Tekton Ministries can be found at http://www.tektonministries.org.

EWTN files for emergency mandate relief with Supreme Court

(CNA/EWTN News).- The EWTN Global Catholic Network has filed a motion for emergency relief with the U.S. Supreme Court, asking for an injunction to bar enforcement of the federal contraception mandate.

Michael Warsaw, chairman and CEO of EWTN, explained that the network has already requested this protection with the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, “but that court has yet to respond to our petition.”  

Click here to read more.

Note: By Monday afternoon, June 30, 2014, EWTN was granted emergency relief from contraception mandate, according to CNA

9 days in heaven

As we race towards sunrise and the Holy Land at 611 miles per hour, my mind races between my worries about changes at work and the wondrous sites that will be seeing over the next nine days. 

9 Days later

This week everything about having been in the Holy Land is beginning to hit me. Maybe it is the jet lag finally wearing off. Maybe it is verbally sharing my story with others. I don't know for sure, but starting yesterday all of the little things keep coming to mind. In the middle of praying the rosary at the convent during lunch, I could see myself at the spot of each of the mysteries, where Jesus taught the Our Father, and at the sites of the Annunciation and the Visitation (where the Hail Mary were stated). During mass, being at the upper room and Calvary immediately come to mind. It is as if instead of just saying the words of the prayers, the meaning behind them is now much more apparent. That wasn't happening before yesterday, but now everything seems to have that much more meaning. I keep getting goose bumps as it happens. I continue to pray that I can share my experiences am that they might have a similar impact on others as they have had on me.

Click here to read everything in-between!

8 things you won't believe can fit INSIDE St. Peter's Basilica in Rome

(by John White, CatholicVote.org)  Next Saturday (June 29) will mark the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul.

As the universal Church prepares to honor two of her greatest saints, Catholics around the world will be asking themselves the same question that they do every year around this time:

What huge things could fit inside St. Peter’s Basilica?

St. Peters interior

Everyone knows that St. Peter”s is not only beautiful, but enormous as well (realtor.com has it valued at $11 trillion – “vintage artwork, charming accents, big back yard surrounded by Italy”).  But even those who have been inside the colossal structure don’t fully appreciate how big it is.  This is because the sheer enormity of its dimensions combined with its virtually perfect architectural balance tricks the human eye and confounds our ability to appreciate its actual size.

This phenomenon is commonly known as “gargantu-opticodimensional pseudoperception.”  Actually, Wikipedia had a different name for it, but who trusts Wikipedia?

Before we start, these are the dimensions of St. Peter’s basilica relevant for our little project (via Wikipedia):

Interior length:     693.8 ft.

Interior width at transept:     451 ft.

Interior width of nave:     90.2 ft.

Interior height of dome:     393 ft.

So without further ado…the following things can fit inside St. Peter’s Basilica:

1.   The Statue of Liberty.  Yes, including the pedestal.

2.   The Space Shuttle.  Including external fuel tank, boosters, etc.

 

3.   The Cinderella Castle at Disney World.

 

4.   The Great Sphinx of Giza.  With lots of room to spare.

5.   Air Force One.  Easily – probably two or three could fit.

 

6.   The 7th Hole at Pebble Beach.  

 

7.   A Typhoon-class Russian submarine.  The largest submarine ever built.

8.   The entire population of Dubuque, Iowa.  St. Peter’s Basilica can fit 60,000 people – no joke.

Dubuque, Iowa

(Adapted by Chris W.)

If God is everywhere, why go on a pilgrimage?

(The Catholic Spirit | Liz Kelly for The Catholic Spirit | June 19, 2014)  I once read that Minnesota has one of the highest numbers of perpetual Eucharistic adoration chapels in the country. Truly, God is with us.

If that’s the case, do I really need to haul myself at great effort and expense — enduring, God forbid, other pilgrims! — to some dusty foreign land to pay him homage, to make known my needs for healing, forgiveness, grace? The answer of course is, no — and perhaps, yes.

Consider: Jesus was a regular pilgrim. The Gospel of Luke tells us he would make the journey to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover every year with his parents.

The earliest pilgrimages were very much like we might imagine this journey was for Jesus: a caravan of company walking for days together along dusty mountain roads, no doubt their minds humming with the familiar prayer of the psalmist: “‘Let us go to the house of the Lord!’ Our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem. . . . To it the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, As was decreed for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the Lord.”

Binding our hearts

To walk where Jesus walked, and pray where he prayed, and learn more intimately the heart of that healing carpenter from Nazareth, a pilgrimage, particularly to the Holy Land, does mark us in a unique way.

When we make a pilgrimage, we are binding our hearts to every pilgrim-saint who has journeyed before us and to every longing of the human soul to seek more deeply, more authentically the face of God.

As Father Murray Bodo writes in his excellent book, “The Place We Call Home: Spiritual Pilgrimage As a Path to God,” “Pilgrimages are not about one place being more holy than another, for God is everywhere. Making pilgrimages involves a response to something inside us that longs to move toward, that seeks the holy beyond.”

And, the good news is, this can happen even on a tour bus with Wi-Fi.

The pilgrim’s credo

I am not in control.

I am not in a hurry.

I walk in faith and hope.

I greet everyone with peace.

I bring back only what God gives me.

The Holy Land

As Christians, we would have no other pilgrimage — to Lourdes, to Ars, to Guadalupe, to the Station Churches of Rome during the Lenten season, to walk the Camino, to climb the Holy Steps on our knees — without the birthplace of our pilgrim souls: Jerusalem.

For such a tiny bit of geography, Israel in general and Jerusalem in particular, has a history fraught with every kind of tension — religious, political, economic. This in some ways is what makes it uniquely fitting to the pilgrim heart. For you will not awake at 4 a.m. in Jerusalem to the sound of church bells, but to the Muslim call to prayer, those low and moaning tones lifted to Allah drifting out over a sleeping city.

And, at the Wailing Wall — the place according to Jewish tradition where Abraham was asked to sacrifice Isaac — you will see that men and women are separated, the women only recently granted a small portion to approach this holiest of Jewish ground with their prayers. Jerusalem is a powerful clash of orthodoxies. It heightens in fresh ways the truly radical teaching of Christ.

And so we go, not to escape the travails of everyday life, but to give them perspective.

We go, not to take a vacation or recreate, but to allow God to re-create our deepest selves.

We take our broken hearts and broken bodies across oceans and over thousands of miles, sitting for hours in cramped airplanes and airports, to distant shrines and ancient ruins, to places where the language and culture may be unfamiliar and uncomfortable — not to remind God, but to remind ourselves that we are part of an eternal narrative, a glorious true story of hope, resurrection and redemptive victory.

We endure the jostle of crowds and the chatter of tour guides even in these, the holiest places on earth, because it helps us to remember the proper horizon of our lives is not health, wealth, comfort, success, being well loved or highly regarded — but a sweeping need for healing and grace and the eternal good news, all of which Jesus wants to provide in abundance.

Preparation helps

The Church teaches that “pilgrimages evoke our earthly journey toward heaven and are . . . special occasions for renewal in prayer.” Indeed, central to any pilgrimage must be prayer — prayer that begins long before you decide which shoes to pack.

My preparation — one I highly recommend if possible — included completing the Ignatian Exercises over the nine months prior to my departure. The Exercises invite you to meditate in a very concentrated way on the life of Christ.

My spiritual director would tell me: “Look at what Jesus is doing in your meditation, dwell with him.” It is a fitting definition for any “pilgrimage” great or small: We go to dwell with him.

Kelly is the author of five books, including “Reasons I Love Being Catholic,” and recently returned from her first pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

Pope: "Excommunicated" The courage to label mobsters “adorers of evil”

(Vatican Insider, by Andrea Tornielli) Never before has a Pope said publicly, without mincing words, that “the mafia is excommunicated”. Pope Francis made the declaration from the pulpit, in the land of the mafia. Following his visit to the frontier of Lampedusa, an island inundated by refugees and immigrants, and the journey amongst the unemployed of Sardinia, Francis’ current visit has taken him to the fringes of the country, in Calabria. It is the ‘geography’ of a pope who favours the less fortunate, as yesterday he visited Cassano allo Jonio to show that he is close to those who live in a land plagued by organised crime and encourage those in attendance with signs of hope and prospects. In the prison of Castrovillari, Bergoglio embraced the father and two grandmothers of Cocò Campolongo, the three-year-old burned alive in an ‘ndrangheta ambush, and during the mass held on the plains of the village of Sibari, he deviated from the text prepared for the homily and declared that “this evil must be fought and distanced”, inviting the Church to commit itself even more in this regard. He said, with potency, that as many as there are that follow this path, “the mafia is excommunicated”.

Yet this is not the first time that Francis has spoken of the mafia. Last March he met two families, victims of the mafia, at a meeting promoted in Rome by “Libera”, with father Ciotti. On that occasion he asked the “men and women of the mafia” to convert and change their lives “so that they do not end up in hell”, “which is what awaits if they continue on this path… The power, the money you have now through illicit business, from many mafia crimes, is bloody money, it is bloody power and you cannot take it with you to the next life”. This time the appeal, clear and strong, and with reference to excommunication, was declared by the Pope from the altar in the land of the mafia. Resolved in his choice, the message echoes that famous address by John Paul II in the Valley of the Temples of Agrigento, in 1993.

For Bergoglio, speaking out against organised crime is nothing new after his years at the episcopacy in Buenos Aires. In 2009, father Pepe di Paola, one of the priests he had assigned to the parish in the shanty town of Barracas, received death threats from drug traffickers. The future Pope told the priest: “If something is to happen to one of mine, I want them to kill me”. He removed the priest to protect him and defended him publicly saying that the appeals to fight crime and narcotics came from him, the archbishop.

“The Gospel contains answers for us all, even against the ‘ndrangheta” said the bishop of Cassano and secretary of the CEI, Nunzio Galantino. Today Francis reiterated this not only to those fighting for change, but also to those “sleeping consciences”, which are complicit.

Hundreds of Catholic employers win exemption from HHS mandate

 

(CNA/EWTN News).- A federal court has ruled that the Catholic Benefits Association and its hundreds of employer members are exempt from a federal mandate requiring coverage of contraceptives and abortifacient drugs.

“We are grateful for the ruling, but continue to pray that our leaders recognize that Catholics, whether bishops or businessmen, cannot in good conscience provide insurance that covers drugs and procedures that undermine the dignity of the human person and the sanctity of human life,” Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City, the benefit association’s vice-president, said June 5.

“Religious freedom entails more than the right to worship and any contrary legislation must be opposed,” he added.

Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore, the association’s president, also welcomed the decision.

Click here to read more.

Video: "Jesus: A Pilgrimage" a conversation with Fr. James Martin, SJ

This video is so down-to-earth, transparent, humble and honest.  

We highly recommend you watch this video and read Fr. James Martin's, SJ book "Jesus: A Pilgrimage".

Pilgrimage: music and memories

by Allison D'Ambrosia; March 20, 2014 (Sophomore; St. Mary's College)

Over spring break, 55 of my closest friends and I went to France. I’m part of the Notre Dame Liturgical Choir, and every other year, the choir goes on an international tour. This year: France. We went to many cities including Beyeux, Chartres, Le Mons and Paris. I don’t know how to pare down all the stories, laughs, walks, metro rides, singing and breath-taking moments that happened in just one week — but I shall try.

We began as five moms, one dad, two directors, three grad student conductors, one priest and 55 college students all sitting at O’Hare airport, equipped with our four blue things: passport, plane ticket, choir robe and tour binder, filled with the music that will ring in my head for many weeks to come. This was the very beginning of our adventures and the snapping of pictures that never seemed to end over the next week.

I only have time (and room) to name just a few of my favorite memories from the trip.

A tradition of the choir is to have a community “Tour Journal,” which is passed around during the week for people to write down stories, quotes, experiences, etc. they want to share and remember. As we were riding from site to site, I loved sitting on the bus reading people’s thoughts and stories.

One entry in particular struck me as this entry was alike my own feelings. We sang at a Carmelite convent church in a town that was very affected by the air raids of World War II. After we sang for mass, we gave a brief concert. One of the pieces we sang is Mendelsohn’s  “Richte Mich, Gott.” I was shocked by how overcome I became while singing this piece, which we had rehearsed 100 times and had already performed eight. But singing in German in a place that had experience so much suffering and trauma at the hands of the Germans, I felt incredibly uncomfortable. Some of the audience members seemed a tad taken aback by our song choice as well, yet we kept on singing.

In a sense, the beauty of the piece and the emotion with which we sang it overcame the awkwardness of the location. I feel like we were able to portray the hurt and devastation — even if it was only by a minuscule amount — by our performance, which somehow ironically removed the gap between audience and performer. The lyrics, from Psalm 43, made sense in the context. We sang: “Rescue me from those who are deceitful and wicked. You are God my stronghold.” This, for me, was one of the most moving performances during our entire tour.

The views expressed in this Inside Column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

Mother, daughter find faith despite unexpected pregnancy

(CNA/EWTN News, By Katy Senour).- Waking up to her bedroom light one late night in October, Linda Padgett was flooded with fear. Standing there, her 20-year-old daughter Sarah revealed that she was pregnant.

Raising a Catholic family of nine, Padgett was initially worried about judgment in the community, her daughter’s future, and the possibility that her daughter’s pregnancy may have been the result of bad parenting.

Over time, however, she was able to overcome the fears and difficulties, and the pregnancy became a source of faith and trust for both herself and Sarah.

Padgett, who lives in Steubenville, Ohio, explained to CNA that she quickly learned to push her own “selfish fears” aside to offer her daughter love and support.

“I needed to let her just talk and share,” she reflected. “I needed to hug her and love her and tell her that we are there for her.”

Noting that she had her husband Chris “have always been open to life” and “never doubted the blessing that a baby is,” Padgett noted that what was at first a “painful and frightening” reality eventually became transformed into abundant grace and countless blessings.

“It’s like God shined a bright light into a darkened, secret area in Sarah’s life,” she said. “That light dispels the darkness and brings grace and healing.”

“It didn’t take long to realize that God was going to use this major twist in Sarah’s life to help her focus and grow.”

Padgett is now joyfully anticipating the arrival of her granddaughter, who will be named Audrey.

“There is a new, little baby coming into our home and I don’t have to be the one doing all the work!” she laughed.

However, the growing baby is not the only new life in the family, she said. “New life is what is happening to both my daughter and to me.”

She explained that she has had the opportunity to exemplify Christ’s unconditional love to Sarah, part of her calling as a parent to model Jesus to her children and help them reach heaven one day.

At the same time, Sarah has been living a renewed life, spiritually focusing on the future and experiencing a lot of physical “firsts” with her pregnancy, Padgett said. “She has started living for someone other than herself.”

In addition, having her mother’s support has given Sarah “the benefit of living with another person who has experienced and felt everything she is feeling.”

Padgett said that the pregnancy has been a “very bonding experience” for herself and Sarah, as well as a time of growth.

She wants young women going through similar situations as Sarah to understand that “pregnancy is not the end of their life.”

“There are lots of stories of girls overcoming their situations and becoming something great, despite the difficulties they encounter,” she said.

Padgett said she has found a new trust and faith in God through seeing the work he has done in her daughter’s life. She believes that God will continue guiding her daughter and has beautiful plans for her future.

“I can’t even image what that will be like, but I am certain it will be amazing,” she said.

Pope Francis: the joy of priesthood and the beauty of fraternity

(Vatican Radio) “I have very much desired this meeting with you who bear the daily burden of parish work” Pope Francis said on Saturday, greeting the priests of the Diocese of Cassano all’Jonio.

In his address, the Holy Father spoke to the assembled clerics about “the joy of being a priest.” There is nothing more beautiful for a man than to be called to the priesthood, he said… called to follow Jesus, to be with Him, to bring Jesus to others, to bring them His Word and His forgiveness. Although the work of a priest is not always easy, drawing near to Jesus in the tabernacle can renew and re-animate priestly zeal. Stopping for a moment before the tabernacle can also lead priests to examine their consciences: “In the silence of prayer Jesus make us see if we are working as good workers, or if we have become a little like ‘employees;’ if we are open, generous ‘channels,’ through which His love, His grace can flow abundantly; or if instead we place ourselves at the center, and so instead of being channels we become screens that do not help the encounter with God, with the light and the strength of the Gospel.”

Pope Francis also spoke about “the beauty of fraternity.” Priests especially do not follow the Lord just as individuals, but as members of a community, with “a great variety of gifts and personalities” which enrich the priesthood when they are lived “in communion and fraternity.” Even priests, however, “are immersed in a subjective culture that exalts the ‘I’ even to the point of idolizing it.” Pope Francis warned of “a certain pastoral individualism that unfortunately is diffused in our dioceses.” Priestly fraternity, then, is a conscious choice that must be cultivated, sought “in communion in Christ in the presbyterate gathered around the Bishop.”

Finally, the Holy Father encouraged the priests in their work “with families and for the family.” It is a difficult time, he said, both for the family as an institution and for individual families that struggle in the crises they face. Priests, he said, “are called to be witnesses and mediators” of God’s “nearness to families, and of the prophetic force” of God’s Word “for the family.”

Video: Pope Francis stops motorcade to bless disabled woman

Hate group's presence shocks attendees at priest funeral

(CNA).- Faithful who attended the funeral for Father Kenneth Walker were dismayed at the presence of picketers from the Westboro Baptist Church on June 20 near Paxico, Kansas.

As mourners filed into Sacred Heart Catholic Church, members of the hate group stood nearby holding signs and singing songs in order to broadcast their message.

A priest with the Fraternity of St. Peter, Fr. Walker, 28, was shot and killed while coming to the aid of Fr. Joseph Terra at their parish, Mater Misercordiae Mission, in Phoenix on June 11. Fr. Terra, 56, suffered several injuries but was released from the hospital June 16.

Those in attendance at Fr. Walker's funeral were disheartened that a group would want to protest at such a difficult time for family and friends.

“I thought it was very inappropriate timing, very inconsiderate for what people are going through right now,” funeral attendee Bridget Bogowith said of the protestors. “It's really uncaring. I was just quite shocked to see them here.”

Funeral attendee Michael Drake said the Catholic response to such protests is a peaceful one.

“We pray for them,” he told CNA. And while he wished the group no ill will, Drake said he was confounded as to why people who believe in God would want to protest the funeral of a priest.

“It seems really unusual that folks would picket the funeral of a man who gave up so many things, including the possibility of a wife and family, in order to serve God,” he said.

Members of the Westboro Baptist Church are known for picketing funerals, particularly those of soldiers. According to their website, group member believe God is punishing America through war due to the country's immoral society.

Drake's mother Claire said she felt sad for the protestors and didn't understand why they would want to picket funerals.

“I know that if one of their ministers died, I would be very sad for his family, I would be concerned, I certainly wouldn't be protesting in front of their church,” she said. “I just think it's a sad and not terribly Christian thing.”

The theme of the pilgrimage was one word: HERE

(by Fr. Greg Shaffer, Chaplain, GWCatholics, George Washington University Newman Center)

Nineteen of us from GW just returned from a 10 day pilgrimage to the Holy Land, including seventeen students.  

It was AWESOME!  For almost all of us, it was our first time.  God completely blessed our trip, and made each day greater than the one before it.  The first half of our time was spent at the Sea of Galilee which was gorgeous.  This is where Jesus was!  He performed miracles there, walked on water there, and handed over his authority to Peter there (“feed my sheep”).  The views in the morning and evening were especially breath-taking.  So many of us fell in love with the Sea of Galilee.  It was so beautiful and peaceful, and lended easily to prayer.  Think I’ve found my retirement spot!  One morning, I posted on Facebook that I went for a run and touched the Sea of Galilee.  Incredible!

The second half of our pilgrimage was in Jerusalem.  This was much more chaotic, busy, and touristy.  But, the holy sites there were so powerful and overwhelming.  We visited the Church of the Annunciation and the students got that that’s where it all started…the Word became flesh.  The Mass at the Church of Agony at the Garden of Gethsemane was particularly powerful because that’s where Christ first shed His blood that we offer at every Mass. And, then, we had Mass in the tomb!  I celebrated Mass on a marble slab where Christ’s body laid for 3 days and then was resurrected…!  That was the most emotional Mass I have ever celebrated. 

The theme of the pilgrimage was one word: HERE.  At each of these places, the prayers in the priest’s book (missal) said HERE.  “The Word became flesh HERE”.  “Christ was born HERE”.  “Christ rose from the dead HERE”.  No other missals in the world say that. We were there and celebrated Mass where these major events of our salvation happened!

If you ever get a chance to go the Israel, please do.  First, it was very safe. At no time was our safety at risk. Second, it was life-changing.  19 of us went; there were 19 conversions.  We are all different people now.  We spanned the spectrum of faith; some were full of faith, some were doubters going into the trip.  We are all believers now, having had a special encounter with Christ in the Holy Land.

Towards the end of our time there, we visited the Upper Room.  This is a significant site for us for a number of reasons: it was there that Christ celebrated the Last Supper, instituted the Eucharist and Priesthood, and where today’s feast of Pentecost occurred.  At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came upon the Apostles as tongues of fire (why the sanctuary and priest are donned with red today).  The Apostles had been afraid to even go outside after Jesus ascended “for fear of the Jews”.  I talked to our students about this on the trip.  It was actually on the feast of the Ascension that I quoted the Gospel: “they worshiped but doubted”.

Think about what that means.  The Apostles were taught by Jesus for three years, got to know him well as a friend, witnessed His passion, death, resurrection, and ascension.  After all that, they doubted and were afraid. They were at all of the holy sites we were…and they were with Jesus!  I pointed this out to the students, and asked them what changed for the Apostles.  It was the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.  The Spirit filled them with faith, not fear.  He filled them with courage, wisdom and zeal to go out and proclaim Jesus. They did that, and on the first day of going out, three thousand people were baptized.  It was the start of the Catholic Church.  The Spirit spoke through the Apostles that day, started the Church, and has been guiding the Church ever since. 

As I told the students, pray to the Holy Spirit.   If you are doubting or are afraid or feel that God is a million miles away, ask the Spirit to help you know Christ’s presence.  “Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful”.  Fill our hearts with your love.  Fill our hearts with your truth, your peace, your joy. Help us to be filled with faith, not fear.  Help us to go out and proclaim Jesus as the Apostles did.

Pentecost was the first Confirmation.  It was for our own sake that you and I were baptized; it was for the sake of others that we were confirmed.  The purpose of Pentecost was to send the Apostles out; the purpose of our Confirmation was to go out on the mission of the Church.  Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid to go out and proclaim Jesus with your lives.

College Students Begin Holy Land Pilgrimage Day After Pope Leaves

Fr. Greg Shaffer, Chaplain of the George Washington University Newman Center will be leading students on an 11-day pilgrimage to the Holy Land, the first of its kind for the student center for Catholics. The GWCatholics arrive the day after Pope Francis departs.

The planning for their pilgrimage began over one year ago. But the time has passed quickly, according to George Washington University Newman Center Chaplain, Fr. Greg Shaffer.

Departing on May 27, Fr. Shaffer and Olivia Bee, student coordinator, will embark on an 11-day pilgrimage to the Holy Land. They will narrowly miss Pope Francis, who departs the Holy Land after his “pilgrimage of prayer” on May 26.

Though the GWCatholics, as they are called, have done service projects and mission trips with the students before, according to Fr. Shaffer this will be the first Holy Land pilgrimage they will make.

Speaking about the difference between prior mission trips and a pilgrimage, Fr. Shaffer emphasized the power of the "extraordinary graces available" on a pilgrimage.

"A pilgrimage helps individuals be more open to what God is doing in their lives," said Tekton PR Associate, Chris Weldon.

"By being in a particular place and encountering the history of events and people in that place, one can be more open to the underlying message that was communicated at that time, much like being at the Statue of Liberty can help people to enter into the experience of the waves of immigrants who came to the United States in the 19th century."

When asked what he wanted for his student parishioners to take away from their upcoming pilgrimage, Fr. Shaffer's answer was clear. "I want them to have a deeper conversion to Christ."

He himself is looking forward to his Tekton Ministries Holy Land pilgrimage, "being in the places where Jesus was, especially where the acts of our salvation took place."

The GWCatholics return from their pilgrimage on June 6.

Tekton Ministries has been providing pilgrimages to the Holy Land since 1996.

For more information, contact Chris Weldon, PR Associate and Social Media Coordinator for Tekton Ministries at (866) 905-3787.For more information on Catholic pilgrimages or other Tekton services contact Chris Weldon at Tekton Ministries, (866) 905-3787.