Podcasts about episcopal vicar

May 8, 2025 ~ Father Timothy Wezner, Episcopal Vicar for Clergy Discipline and Vice Chancellor at the Detroit Archdiocese with the latest on the Papal Conclave.

IMAGE CREDIT: Peciul, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons LINKS: Vatican bio of Cardinal Oscar CANTONI: https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/documentation/cardinali_biografie/cardinali_bio_cantoni_o.html      Oscar CANTONI on FIU's Cardinals Database (by Salvador Miranda): https://cardinals.fiu.edu/bios2022.htm#Cantoni    Cardinal Oscar CANTONI on Gcatholic.org: https://gcatholic.org/p/4928                      Cardinal Oscar CANTONI on Catholic-Hierarchy.org: https://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bcantoni.html Diocese of Como on Gcatholic.org: https://gcatholic.org/dioceses/diocese/como0.htm?tab=info         Diocese of Como on Catholic-Hierarchy.org: https://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/dcomi.html   2022 Aleteia.org profile of Cardinal-elect Cantoni and the Diocese of Como: https://aleteia.org/2022/08/27/cardinal-cantoni-an-italian-in-red-for-a-martyred-diocese/  Telegraph.co.uk 2024 reporting on Fr. Martinelli case: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/01/24/priest-jailed-abuse-altar-boy-popes-choirboys/ Catholic News Agency reporting on the 2021 Fr. Martinelli trial: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/246626/vatican-abuse-trial-witnesses-say-allegations-about-youth-seminary-were-ignored National Catholic Reporter 2024 reporting on Fr. Martinelli case: https://www.ncronline.org/vatican/vatican-news/vatican-appeals-court-finds-priest-guilty-corrupting-minor  Reuters 2024 reporting on Fr. Martinelli case: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/vatican-convicts-priest-accused-abuse-papal-altar-boys-school-2024-01-23/   Thank you for listening, and thank my family and friends for putting up with the time investment and for helping me out as needed.  As always, feel free to email the show at Popeularhistory@gmail.com  If you would like to financially support Popeular history, go to www.patreon.com/Popeular. If you don't have any money to spare but still want to give back, pray and tell others– prayers and listeners are worth more than gold!   TRANSCRIPT Welcome to Popeular History, a library of Catholic knowledge and insights.   Check out the show notes for sources, further reading, and a transcript.   Please note that this episode includes discussion of sexual crimes and allegations, and may not be appropriate for all audiences.   Today we're discussing another current Cardinal o f the Catholic Church, one of the 120 or so people who will choose the next Pope when the time comes..   Oscar CANTONI was born on September 1, 1950, in Lenno, a small town in the Como Province of the Lombardy Region of northern Italy.   We've had several Italian Cardinals before- nine, to be exact, and we've even had another Cardinal from Lombardy–Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, and I count myself blessed every time I have the chance to say the name of Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa.   In any event, Oscar had the most surprising educational history out of all the Cardinals so far: while by all accounts he did well at school, and he's actually published several books, *and* he's taught in various capacities for decades, he doesn't have any academic degrees.   Nevertheless, in 1975 he was ordained as a priest for the Diocese of Como. From 1985 to 1999 he was actively involved in promoting vocations, becoming director of the Vocational Diocesan Center in 1986. From 1990 to 2005, Father Cantoni served as a Spiritual Director at the diocesan seminary.    One more unique project came along in 2000, when he re-founded the Ordo Virginum in the Diocese, the Ordo Virginum being an association of consecrated virgins that had fallen into obscurity until it was restored by the Second Vatican Council.   From 2003 to 2005, Father Cantoni was episcopal vicar for the clergy of Como, and it's time that I admit that for a while I thought each Diocese could only have one Episcopal Vicar but I have since come to understand that while each Episcopal Vicar has their own distinct mandate, there can nevertheless be several, if that's what the Bishop wants.   In 2005, the trusty old white phone rang, and it was Pope Saint John Paul II, looking to make Father Cantoni Bishop of Crema.   Now, you don't say no to JPII, or at least Father Cantoni didn't, and so on March 5th, he was consecrated by his former ordinary, the Bishop of Como, and, well, his other former ordinary, the Bishop Emeritus of Como. The third spot was filled by the Italian Nuncio, a fairly standard arrangement. The previous Bishop of Crema had died in office a few months before, if you're wondering what he was up to.   In 2016, Bishop Cantoni was transferred to the Diocese of Como, where he had grown up and served as a priest. In 2017, he ordained Gabriele Martinelli, despite having received some reports of sexual misconduct connected to Matinelli over the years, which Bishop Cantoni later said he had dismissed as quote “transitory homosexual tendency linked to adolescence”.   Both the future Father Martinelli and his alleged victim, identified as “L.G.” were teenagers at the time, with Martinelli being about a year older.    The alleged sexual relationship took place over several years in a pre-seminary that was actually on Vatican grounds, tasked with supplying altar servers for Saint Peter's Basilica. The pre-seminary was sponsored by the Diocese of Como, hence Bishop Cantoni's connection.   In 2021, Father Martinelli, who has consistently denied everything, was cleared due to a combination of his youth at the time and insufficient evidence, and it was after that ruling that Pope Francis elevated Bishop Cantoni to the Cardinalate, which we'll circle back to.   The Martinelli case has a coda, because under Vatican Law the prosecution can appeal cases and earlier this year, that's 2024, Father Martinelli was found guilty of corrupting a minor, that is, L.G., the same accuser as in the 2021 trial.   In September 2020, one of Bishop Cantoni's priests, Father Robero Malgesini, was murdered by a homeless person he was caring for. The event was widely covered in the press and prompted Pope Francis to praise God for quote “the martyrdom of this witness of charity toward the poorest”.   It should be noted that by all accounts Father Malgesini knew the risks associated with serving the outcasts, who often suffer mental illness. It should also be noted that in 2019, he was fined by local police for feeding people living under the portico of a former church, which, allow me to say, as the only official public policy position of Popeular History, **** such fines.   In 2022, in a somewhat surprising move, Pope Francis elevated Bishop Cantoni to the college of Cardinals and added him to the Dicastery for Bishops. I say somewhat sur prising because Como hasn't been headed by a Cardinal since 1694, so it's surprising in that sense, but people knew to expect surprises from Pope Francis by that point, it being his 8th consistory and all, so it  would have been surprising if there had been no surprises on the list. Still, it's fair to ask, why Como?   This is always a matter of speculation, because Popes are absolute monarchs and are never expected to give reasons for choosing one possible Cardinal over another. But my guess is the safest one for any analysis: it's a combination of factors. The fluffiest is one I've seen elsewhere, namely leaning into the crimson of the martyrs worn by the Cardinals and seeking to honor a Diocese that had seen more martyrdom in the last generation than most in Italy, not just Father Malgesini, but also Bl. Sr. Maria Laura Mainetti, who was murdered by three teenage girls in a satanic ritual in 2000, dying while asking God to forgive her murderers, certainly a death more on the classic end of the martyrdom spectrum.   I think it's likely the Martinelli case also played a role, certainly in the form of delaying Bishop Cantoni's elevation, but also, well, hear me out here.   Pope Francis *really* likes to reach out to the marginalized. Like, it's a whole thing for him, and he has absolutely used his cardinatial appointments to do just that–Cardinal Cantoni was sandwiched between a Pacific Islander and an African American in the 2022 consistory. I'm by no means confident in this assessment, but I don't think the fact that Cardinal Cantoni had been recently facing criticism for his handling o f Father Martinelli's case hurt his standings in Pope Francis' assessment. Especially fresh off Martinelli's initial acquittal, Pope Francis may have seen in Bishop Cantoni another marginalized individual.    One way or another, Cardinal Oscar CANTONI is eligible to participate in future conclaves until he turns 80 in 2030.   Today's episode is part of Cardinal Numbers. Stay tuned to see if today's Cardinal gets selected for a deeper dive in the next round! Thank you for listening; God bless you all!

Episode 205Speaker: Father Daniel O'LearyTopic:   Lives Transformed by LoveA priest of the Diocese of Leeds, Fr Daniel was also an author and teacher. Born in 1937, in Rathmore, Co Kerry, he studied at All Hallows College, Dublin. He worked in parishes for almost 30 years as a Curate and then Parish Priest. For another 20 years, he taught Theology and Religious Education at St Mary's University College in London, and became chair of its Religious Studies department, before being appointed Episcopal Vicar for Christian Formation in Leeds until 2000.Fr Daniel held master's degrees in theology, spirituality and religious education. An award-winning author of 12 books, he was a regular contributor to the Tablet, the Irish Furrow and other publications, He also gave conferences and retreats to parishioners, teachers, catechists, head-teachers, priests and Diocesan RE Advisers around the country and internationally.     He died in January 2019

It's always a special treat when Fr. Al Baca sits down with host Rick Howick in our OC Catholic Radio studios. Fr. Al is the Episcopal Vicar for Ecumenism and Inter-religion in the Diocese of Orange. Our topic of discussion for today's podcast centers around the season of Advent here in the last days of 2023. Listen and SHARE this podcast!

A daily news briefing from Catholic News Agency, powered by artificial intelligence. Ask your smart speaker to play “Catholic News,” or listen every morning wherever you get podcasts. www.catholicnewsagency.com - Jim Irsay, the owner of the Indianapolis Colts football team, announced this week that he is donating $5 million to Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago in honor of his late cousin, Sister Joyce Dura. Irsay, a billionaire businessman who grew up in the Chicago area, praised his cousin's service to others during her time as a religious sister. “Sister Joyce spent a half-century giving back to others, so with this gift I only hope to emulate my dear cousin's spirit, grace, and her commitment to our communities,” Irsay said. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255506/indianapolis-colts-owner-donates-5-dollars-million-to-catholic-charities-chicago-to-honor-his-cousin-a-nun The Archdiocese of Saint Louis may close more than 25 Catholic elementary schools amid a major restructuring plan that has already closed and merged many parishes. Roughly one-third of the 80 Catholic parish elementary schools in the Archdiocese of Saint Louis will meet with representatives from the Office of Catholic Education and Formation and their Episcopal Vicar to consult on their current and future status, the archdiocese announced September 27. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255513/one-third-of-st-louis-catholic-schools-face-possible-closure Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City on Thursday called the execution of convicted murderer Anthony Sanchez, which took place a week ago, “fundamentally at odds with the culture of life the state of Oklahoma proclaims to be building.” Sanchez was convicted of the 1996 rape and murder of 21-year-old University of Oklahoma student Juli Busken, KOCO5 reported. He died September 21 at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, about a 130-mile drive from Oklahoma City. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255516/oklahoma-archbishop-decries-execution-of-anthony-sanchez-as-archaic The Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope (VATT) on Mount Graham in southern Arizona celebrated its 30th anniversary this month, and the observatory has several days worth of celebrations planned for this weekend. The VATT is a relatively recent extension of the Vatican Observatory, which has roots dating to 1582, making it one of the oldest active astronomical observatories in the world. The observatory was re-founded in 1891 by Pope Leo XIII, who intended to reinforce the Catholic Church's support of science. Originally located near Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome, the Vatican Observatory moved to Castel Gandolfo under Pope Pius XI due to light pollution from the city. In 1981, again due to growing light pollution, the observatory launched another research center under the famously dark Arizona skies. The VATT, which is paid for by private donations, is today located on a mountaintop in rural Arizona about 200 miles southeast of Phoenix. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255512/celebrations-planned-for-30th-anniversary-of-vatican-observatory-s-arizona-telescope Today, the Church celebrates the three Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, the only angels named in Sacred Scripture. All three have important roles in the history of salvation. Saint Michael is the "Prince of the Heavenly Host," the leader of all the angels. Saint Gabriel, whose name means "God's strength," is mentioned four times in the Bible. Most significant are Gabriel's two mentions in the New Testament: to announce the birth of John the Baptist to his father Zacharias, and the at Incarnation of the Word in the womb of Mary. Saint Raphael's name means "God has healed,” and Tobit is the only book in which he is mentioned. His office is generally accepted by tradition to be that of healing and acts of mercy. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/sts-michael-gabriel-raphael-archangels-609

Canon Victor Darlington, Episcopal Vicar for the South East in the Archdiocese of Southwark, talks to Ruth Gledhill of The Tablet about racial justice in Southwark and the wider church. It comes on the eve of the Synod in Rome and as Canon Victor and the archdiocese prepares for a seminar on 28 October on promoting racial and cultural inclusion in schools and communities.Canon Darlington leads the Commissions for Promoting Racial Justice and Cultural Inclusion, Education and Caritas, Archdiocese of Southwark. The archdiocese covers some of the most racially diverse areas of the UK. In this podcast, Canon Darlington talks about some of the challenges involved, what the priorities are and his hopes for the future.   --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-tablet/message

Bishop Peter John Elliott is a retired Australian bishop of the Catholic Church who served as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Melbourne from 2007 to 2018.1 He graduated from The University of Melbourne with a Master of Arts in history and then attained a Master of Arts in theology at the University of Oxford. Bishop Elliott is also an author, writing a number of published works that predominantly concern the celebration of Catholic liturgy. His latesst book is entitled, The Sexual Revolution: History, Ideology, and Power. He was born and grew up in Melbourne, where his father served as an Anglican priest. In 2009, he was appointed the Delegate of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference for the setting up of a Personal Ordinariate for Former Anglicans. In 2015, he was appointed Episcopal Vicar for Religious Education and continues his theological oversight of To Know, Worship and Love, the Archdiocesan Religious Education Texts. Bp Elliott's book, The Sexual Revolution: History, Ideology and Power: https://ignatius.com/the-sexual-revolution-srp/ Sign up for our weekly newsletter here: https://ruthinstitute.org/newsletter/

(0:03) Fr. Craig Giera introduces Fr. Drew Mabee, his new co-host and they welcome this episode's guest, Mgsr. Charles Kozanke. The hosts and guest recap various blessings that the summer has held. Msgr. Kozanke's recent experiences included the Basilica of Ste. Anne de Detroit's multicultural celebration of its titular feast day, as well as a trip to Poland. Fr. Drew describes the grace of serving at St. Damien of Molokai in Pontiac, a predominantly Hispanic parish. Fr. Craig shares about his recent opportunity to offer Mass for young people at Camp Sancta Maria. (18:00) Vocation story: Msgr. Kozanke grew up in an active Catholic family and started thinking about the priesthood in seventh grade, largely due to the “foundational” experience of training fellow boys as altar servers. Over time, he discerned that he should enter seminary. Halfway through his Theology studies, Msgr. Kozanke experienced doubts, feeling “50/50” about his vocation. Fr. Craig affirms that men do not need to be completely sure about the priesthood before entering seminary. (30:18) They discuss how God used the invitation to train altar servers to draw Msgr. Kozanke to the priesthood. Msgr. Kozanke is asked about his experience with discernment weekends and explains that they gave him “comfortability” with the idea of seminary. He then shares how God has used his business skills throughout his 37 years as a priest. He affirms, “At the end of the day,…your effectiveness…is really going to be based on what God does through you.” (39:10) The power of reliance on the Lord: Msgr. Kozanke describes how he went to Rome as a young priest to study for his doctorate, but greatly struggled to come up with a topic. Eventually, he surrendered the situation to the Lord: “For a full week…I did nothing from Monday through Friday but pray before the Blessed Sacrament.” At the end of the week, inspiration suddenly struck and he soon made rapid progress on his thesis. Msgr. Kozanke gives a second example of how God provided for him following a week of prayer. He emphasizes that whatever your abilities, “God sometimes may remind you that you're also limited.” Fr. Craig and Fr. Drew point out how God works with what little we have and already has a plan for us. (51:04) Msgr. Kozanke discusses his experience with various ministries, including Marriage Encounter, American Friends of the Vatican Library, and Young Catholic Professionals. He describes accepting the offer to shepherd Ste. Anne's, as well as his experience of being Episcopal Vicar of the Central Region of the Archdiocese of Detroit. (59:08) Discernment advice: Fr. Craig emphasizes the need to be open to God's plan for one's life and priesthood. He suggests, “take a step back and sit in a chapel for five days. And ask the Lord…‘what is it that You want?'” Msgr. Kozanke encourages men who are discerning to take the “first step” of praying a weekly holy hour in Adoration. He also suggests attending discernment weekends or visiting religious orders whose charism resonates with you. (1:05:50) Fr. Craig thanks Msgr. Kozanke and Fr. Drew for joining him on the podcast. Msgr. Kozanke closes the episode in prayer.

Published: November 03, 2019 Today we finish our coverage of the 2019 International Catholic Stewardship Conference with an interview with Msgr. John J. Bracken. Msgr. Bracken stopped by our booth at ICSC this year, and we had a terrific impromptu interview about his life as a priest and his career not only as the Vicar General for the Diocese of Brooklyn but also as the very first Director of Development. He has been a priest in the Diocese of Brooklyn for over 52 years. Msgr. Bracken is a bit of a legend because he literally created the job of a Development Director right at the time in history when the Bishop's pastoral document, Stewardship: A Disciples Response, was published. Monsignor talks about his career, his calling, and the nature of Stewardship. Please enjoy this interview with our host, Jim Friend. About Msgr. John J. Bracken A native of Richmond Hill, he attended St. Benedict Joseph School; Cathedral College, Brooklyn; St. Mary's Seminary, Baltimore; and St. Louis University. He served as an assistant at St. Francis de Sales, Belle Harbor, 1967-77. Msgr. also served at St. Teresa, Woodside, 1977-80; and Our Lady Help of Christians, Midwood, 1980-84. He was the Episcopal Vicar for Queens North, 1984-91; and director of the diocesan Development Office, 1991-2009. He was named Vicar General for Temporalities in 2004. In addition, he has been the administrator of Holy Name parish, Windsor Terrace, 2009-10. Msgr. Bracken was the administrator of Our Lady Help of Christians and administrator of St. Mary Star of the Sea-St. Gertrude. He also served as a member of the Priests Senate and a member of the Diocesan Board of Consultors. He was on the board of directors for the Office of Pastoral Communications at St. Joseph's Hospital. Daily Spiritual Reflection and Prayers on “Kristin's Crosses” Join Jim and Kristin Friend and their family on Kristin's Crosses YouTube Channel for “Today's Catholic Prayers.” Jim and Kristin offer the daily Gospel and Reflection along with the Rosary and Catholic Prayers of the day. Click here to visit the YouTube Page and subscribe. If you would like to join the Kristin's Crosses prayer group on Facebook, click here to request to join.

In light of recent events at St. John Lateran in Rome where Anglicans were allowed to say Mass at the Pope's own church, we thought it was a good time to revisit the topic of Anglican Orders. This is a "mega episode" because it has two parts: Part 1: A conversation between Fr. Creighton, Fr. Wesley, Bp. Chandler Jones and Fr. Becket Soule. Part 2: A re-run of an old episode in which Bp. Chad discusses the validity of Anglican orders with Fr. Wesley and Fr. Myles. Bp. Chandler Jones is the Presiding Bishop of the Anglican Province of America and blogs at ⁠Philorthodox⁠.  Fr. Becket Soule has taught classical languages, law, and history at the Catholic University of America, the Dominican House of Studies (Washington, DC), the Pontifical College Josephinum (Columbus, OH), and Oxford University, and retired as Professor of Canon Law at St Paul University in Ottawa, Ontario.  He has been visiting lecturer and fellow at other institutions of higher studies in the United States, Great Britain, and the Ukraine, and has served as an official of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches in Rome, and as Judicial Vicar and Episcopal Vicar of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter in the United States and Canada; Becket has also served Anglican and Catholic parishes in Texas, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and England.  He is now pastor of St Margaret of Scotland Catholic Church in Maggie Valley, NC. Be sure to check out the video of his presentation to the Ecclesiastical Law Society "The Recognition of Orders by the Roman Catholic Church". Send us your feedback and questions to thesacramentalists@gmail.com or reach out to us on Twitter @sacramentalists. Be sure to join our Communion of Patreon Saints for only $5 a month.

Today's Topics: 1)  Tempus Fugit, Memento Mori is a motto of the Knights of Columbus and is Latin for, "Time Flies, Remember Death."  After the murder of the Most Reverend David G. O'Connell, the Episcopal Vicar of the San Gabriel Pastoral Region in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the Knights of Columbus hosted a novena for the repose of his soul.  Per the Spiritual Works of Mercy we are called to pray for both the living and the dead, 2)  Bishop David G. O'Connell joined the Knights of Columbus in the San Gabriel Valley Chapter.  He and his fellow Brother Knights participated in demonstrating their "Faith in Action" and prayed many a times at abortion facilities located throughout the San Gabriel Valley, 3)  Sir Knight Joe Corona, a Brother Knight who had an untimely death during the Covid pandemic, participated in many a good works with and for Bishop David G. O'Connell including organizing barbeques to honor the priests and deacons in the San Gabriel Pastoral Region.  As is the case with the Bishop, we Knights for the repose of the soul of Brother Knight Joe Corona, 4)  Immediately following the death of Bishop O'Connell, the month of March was filled with many spiritual  blessings for his region, the San Gabriel Valley.  It began with the "I Thirst" Eucharistic Revival at St. John Vianney in Hacienda Heights, CA.  Bishop David was to be the keynote speaker at this event which was held a block away from home.  The following weekend was the "I Thirst" Young Adult Eucharistic Revival at the Santiago Retreat Center in Silverado, CA, which is not far away from the Valley.  On the third weekend in March a Knights of Columbus Charity, Unity and Fraternity Exemplification was held in the Bishop's honor at St. Anthony Church in San Gabriel. On the final weekend in March was the Virgin Most Power Network's Spiritual Warfare Conference in Pomona, CA.  While this was happening a Eucharistic Procession with over 1,000 people took place from San Gabriel Mission to St. Luke Church in Temple City and back.  This was led by Archbishop Jose Gomez. https://www.spiritfilledevents.com/i-thirst-los-angeles https://www.spiritfilledevents.com/i-thirst-young-adults https://virginmostpowerfulradio.org/events/2023spiritualwarfareconference/ https://lacatholics.org/archdiocesan-eucharistic-procession-gallery/ Theme: "Salve Regina" performed by Floriani. All rights reserved. Used with permission. For more information please visit Floriani.org

On this episode of Searching for More, Father Paul Scalia, Episcopal Vicar for Clergy, Pastor of St. James Catholic Church and member and former Chairman of the Board of Courage International discusses issues of sexuality and gender identity in light of the truth revealed in Church teaching. Hear Father Scalia point to Church teaching on the human person and the dignity of the human body and offer insight into how this guides our understanding of gender identity. This episode’s host is Billy Atwell, Chief Communications Officer, Catholic Diocese of Arlington.  For more information visit the USCCB's website at https://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/marriage-and-family/marriage/promotion-and-defense-of-marriage/upload/Gender-Ideology-Select-Teaching-Resources.pdf Courage International: https://couragerc.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Papal-and-Curial-Docs-on-Gender-Theory-updated-Apr2015.pdf

Each month Mundelein seminarians are commemorating the Year of Saint Joseph by gathering for vespers and exposition of the Blessed Sacrament followed by a spiritual reflection on Saint Joseph.A series of guest speakers will offer reflections on aspects of Saint Joseph’s life and spiritual character, based on Pope Francis’ Patris Corde and the Litany of St. Joseph. Bishop Joseph N. Perry, Auxiliary Bishop of Chicago and Episcopal Vicar of Vicariate VI, presided over the January event and offered a beautiful reflection on Saint Joseph as a beloved father.Sign up to receive future #YearofSaintJoseph reflections via email: http://usml.edu/year-of-saint-joseph Thanks for listening and subscribing to the Formation podcast! Please rate and review this podcast wherever you listen so that others can find it. Support the seminary: https://usml.edu/support/Submit prayer intentions: https://usml.edu/prayers/

The Genesis Method is a simple, relational method for evangelizing. This workshop shares how to use the Genesis Method in daily life.This episode is part of a workshop that took place on Feb. 15 in Saginaw. The Genesis Mission is an effective approach to personal growth and sharing your faith in daily life. It works in a very simple and practical way that is uniquely adaptable to every baptized person; dismissing the myth that evangelizing is only for those with “the gift” and enabling each and every faithful Catholic to proactively share in the Great Commission.The Genesis Method is a simple, relational method for evangelizing. This workshop shares how to use the Genesis Method in ministry and in daily life.Fr. Jon Bielawski is a native of Plymouth, England and was ordained a priest in 1990 for the Diocese of Plymouth where he serves as Episcopal Vicar for Evangelisation and Catechesis and pastor of St. Peter and St. Thomas More Parish.Michele Thompson is Co-Founder of the Genesis Mission, Diocese of Plymouth, England

The Genesis Method is a simple, relational method for evangelizing. This workshop shares how to use the Genesis Method in daily life.This episode is part of a workshop that took place on Feb. 15 in Saginaw. The Genesis Mission is an effective approach to personal growth and sharing your faith in daily life. It works in a very simple and practical way that is uniquely adaptable to every baptized person; dismissing the myth that evangelizing is only for those with “the gift” and enabling each and every faithful Catholic to proactively share in the Great Commission.Fr. Jon Bielawski is a native of Plymouth, England and was ordained a priest in 1990 for the Diocese of Plymouth where he serves as Episcopal Vicar for Evangelisation and Catechesis and pastor of St. Peter and St. Thomas More Parish.Michele Thompson is Co-Founder of the Genesis Mission, Diocese of Plymouth, EnglandMichael Dopp graduated from St Augustine’s at the University of Toronto with a Master of Divinity (MDiv) and earned a Licentiate in Sacred Theology (STL), with a concentration on the new evangelization, at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Michigan. Michael has been involved in a variety of ministries dedicated to evangelization and mission projects in Europe, Africa, and North America. He is founder and president of Mission of the Redeemer Ministries, founder of The New Evangelization Summit, and co-director of The Summer Institute in the New Evangelization.Michael has presented for 18 diocese and over 50 parishes and apostolates, as well as Catholic ministries such as CCO, NET, and Cursillo. He has led presentations for priests, deacons, university students, prayer groups, RCIA, sacramental preparation groups, adult faith formation, and more.

The Genesis Method is a simple, relational method for evangelizing. This workshop shares how to use the Genesis Method in daily life.This episode is part of a workshop that took place on Feb. 15 in Saginaw. The Genesis Mission is an effective approach to personal growth and sharing your faith in daily life. It works in a very simple and practical way that is uniquely adaptable to every baptized person; dismissing the myth that evangelizing is only for those with “the gift” and enabling each and every faithful Catholic to proactively share in the Great Commission.The Genesis Method is a simple, relational method for evangelizing. This workshop shares how to use the Genesis Method in ministry and in daily life.Fr. Jon Bielawski is a native of Plymouth, England and was ordained a priest in 1990 for the Diocese of Plymouth where he serves as Episcopal Vicar for Evangelisation and Catechesis and pastor of St. Peter and St. Thomas More Parish.Michele Thompson is Co-Founder of the Genesis Mission, Diocese of Plymouth, England

ROLE OF LAW Introduction & Presentation 2009 Convention  This year's Role of Law recipient has received many earlier recognitions.  Among them is the ‘Order of the Arrow' which he earned as an Eagle Scout.  As a person with a great zest for life, his curriculum vitae provides not just professional efforts, but also more personal achievements: a football official, a gourmet cook who auctions off dinners for charitable causes, and acknowledgment as the ‘Italian of the year in religion' from the Italian Sons & Daughters Cultural Association in his area.  Indeed, one of the most charming things about our recipient is his well-developed humanness.  He is a person of great energy and enthusiasm.  Again, his curriculum vitae describes his work in parishes, in his diocese, in health care, with the youth, with diocesan administration and with non-denominational civic projects.  When he was the President of our Society, he attended most, if not all, of the Regional Conventions; having been to a few this past year as your President, I can tell you that he established a standard in that regard not easily met. But our Role of Law award recognizes someone who has served the People of God in canonical ministry.  In numerous writings of our Society, this is specified as research, study and assistance to the community of God's people, singularly and collectively.  Our recipient has certainly provided our Society and the wider Church with research and study.  From matrimonial jurisprudence to educational and formational disputes to questions of consultation, he has assisted us in the use of all seven books of the Code of Canon Law.  Currently, he is the one in his diocese responsible for the Department of Canonical Services.  In other words, not only unofficially but officially, he is responsible for the research and study of any and all canonical questions; most of the questions involve if not actual disputes at least disturbing confusion.  I would be remiss if I did not comment on his most current assistance to the Church as one called upon to judge penal trials of clerics.  As many of you know, it is not easy for a Tribunal, mandated by Rome but sitting locally, to move to a thoughtful conclusion through all the emotion, the bureaucracy, the procedural uncertainties and the particularities of a case.  Our recipient this year adjudicates these cases with canonical skill, common sense and courtesy for all. In all of this, however, our recipient focuses on the person, the individual, not the office or the title.  In doing that, he demonstrates a real grasp of law in the Church: it is part of the living reality of God's People.  Context is everything, and our recipient never takes law out of the context of the community.  Indeed, it is his humanity, which I noted at the beginning, that makes his canonical ministry so effective.  As your President, and as a fellow Episcopal Vicar for Canonical Concerns, it is my pleasure to present to you the recipient of the 2009 Role of Law Award from the Canon Law Society of America, the Episcopal Vicar for Canonical Concerns for the diocese of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Fr. Larry DiNardo.

Father James Mallon is the Episcopal Vicar for Parish Renewal and Leadership Support for the Archdiocese of Halifax-Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada. Father James is also the author of the best selling book Divine Renovation: From A Maintenance To A Missional Parish, an engaging guide for parishes seeking to cultivate vibrant and dynamic faith communities centred on missionary discipleship. Father James serves the Archdiocese with half of his time and spends the other half serving in the Divine Renovation Ministry - a ministry that has impacted tens of thousands of pastors and laity throughout the world. http://www.ccln.ca/season2/episode6

Auxiliary Bishop Richard B. Higgins is soon to retire as Episcopal Vicar for Veterans Affairs. In this edition of Catholic Military Life, the only official podcast of the Archdiocese of the Military Services, USA, Bishop Higgins looks back on his 45 years in pastoral service to Catholics in the United States Military and those receiving treatment in the nation's VA Medical Centers. He retraces his unusual journey from growing up Catholic in Ireland to becoming a priest, joining the U.S. Air Force as a chaplain, and eventual ordination and service as a bishop. On a personal level, the retiring bishop shares his passion for, of all things, flying airplanes and riding motorcycles.

Joan McHugh joined by Suzy McGinn, host this episode with Fr. Paul Scalia who is the son of the late Supreme Court Justice, Antonin Scalia.  Fr. Scalia is the Episcopal Vicar for Clergy and Director of the Permanent Diaconate Formation Program in the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia and Author of a collection of writings about his faith "That Nothing May be Lost" 

Fr Chris de Souza, Vicar General and Episcopal Vicar for Education in the Diocese of Parramatta, takes us into the deep as we discuss the challenges and opportunities of developing a new Religious Education curriculum in this time and place. Contact us at inspirepodcast@parra.catholic.edu.au

During a marriage retreat, Father Paul Scalia says obedience is important in a marriage, but not in the way you might think. It’s not a slavish obedience to your spouse…or the crushing of free will, but free will with a destination. On Saturday, July 7 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Holy Trinity parish, in Gainesville, Fr. Paul Scalia, Episcopal Vicar for Clergy, hosted a Retreat Day for Married Couples. 220 couples attended the enriching and reflective day, which included talks, Adoration, confession, spiritual time spent with the spouse, and concluded with Mass. Fr. Scalia gave talks on poverty, chastity and obedience (the three evangelical counsels of the consecrated life), and how they exist analogously in marriage. These vows are, of course, typically made by religious in community, though they are present in an analogous way in marriage. Obedience: Just as a religious takes a vow of obedience to his provincial, so do husband and wife make a vow to submit to each other (always in their distinctly masculine or feminine way), for the sake of their one flesh union. For husbands, this means being intimately involved, withstanding the temptation to be distant. For wives, this means respecting the headship of the man, foregoing the temptation to be too much in control.

Fr. Paul Scalia, Episcopal Vicar for Clergy in the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia presents the 2018 Red Mass lecture, "In Fairness to the Pharisees: The Law, Laws, and Lawlessness," 9/19/18. 

During a marriage retreat, Father Paul Scalia speaks of chastity as the fulfillment of human sexuality. Hear why he says that, although chastity may seem out of place in the world, the chaste love of husband and wife is a sign of eternal hope for all of us. On Saturday, July 7 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Holy Trinity parish, in Gainesville, Fr. Paul Scalia, Episcopal Vicar for Clergy, hosted a Retreat Day for Married Couples. 220 couples attended the enriching and reflective day, which included talks, Adoration, confession, spiritual time spent with the spouse, and concluded with Mass. Fr. Scalia gave talks on poverty, chastity and obedience (the three evangelical counsels of the consecrated life), and how they exist analogously in marriage. These vows are, of course, typically made by religious in community, though they are present in an analogous way in marriage. Chastity: For a religious brother or sister, chastity means total abstinence. For the married couple, chastity means a purity of heart and action: married love is total and free, which means that it must be exclusive. Even within this relationship, the deep union between husband and wife must be generous and never self-seeking.

On Saturday, July 7 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Holy Trinity parish, in Gainesville, Fr. Paul Scalia, Episcopal Vicar for Clergy, hosted a Retreat Day for Married Couples. 220 couples attended the enriching and reflective day, which included talks, Adoration, confession, spiritual time spent with the spouse, and concluded with Mass. Fr. Scalia gave talks on poverty, chastity and obedience (the three evangelical counsels of the consecrated life), and how they exist analogously in marriage. These vows are, of course, typically made by religious in community, though they are present in an analogous way in marriage. Poverty: When one marries, one does not just give up a certain pursuit of material things; rather, in marriage, one’s very life is opened up, shared with, and indeed given to the other. A spirit of poverty in marriage takes the form of giving up one’s own desires for the sake of the common good.  

To learn more about becoming a Certified Strengths Coach at the Gallup Strengths Center: http://on.gallup.com/1i5OXhq.Gallup's Called to Coach is a live Webcast that targets current and prospective coaches to interact with Gallup experts and independent strengths coaches who have found success in strengths-based development.Called to Coach is a resource for those who want to help others discover and use their strengths. https://www.gallupstrengthscenter.com/home/en-us?utm_source=youtube. On a recent Called to Coach, we spoke with Father James Mallon, Episcopal Vicar for the Archdiocese of Halifax-Yarmouth in Nova Scotia, Canada.

To learn more about becoming a Certified Strengths Coach at the Gallup Strengths Center: http://on.gallup.com/1i5OXhq. Gallup's Called to Coach is a live Webcast that targets current and prospective coaches to interact with Gallup experts and independent strengths coaches who have found success in strengths-based development. Called to Coach is a resource for those who want to help others discover and use their strengths. https://www.gallupstrengthscenter.com/home/en-us?utm_source=youtube. On a recent Called to Coach, we spoke with Father James Mallon, Episcopal Vicar for the Archdiocese of Halifax-Yarmouth in Nova Scotia, Canada.

To learn more about becoming a Certified Strengths Coach at the Gallup Strengths Center: http://on.gallup.com/1i5OXhq. Gallup's Called to Coach is a live Webcast that targets current and prospective coaches to interact with Gallup experts and independent strengths coaches who have found success in strengths-based development. Called to Coach is a resource for those who want to help others discover and use their strengths. https://www.gallupstrengthscenter.com/home/en-us?utm_source=youtube. On a recent Called to Coach, we spoke with Father James Mallon, Episcopal Vicar for the Archdiocese of Halifax-Yarmouth in Nova Scotia, Canada.

To learn more about becoming a Certified Strengths Coach at the Gallup Strengths Center: http://on.gallup.com/1i5OXhq.Gallup's Called to Coach is a live Webcast that targets current and prospective coaches to interact with Gallup experts and independent strengths coaches who have found success in strengths-based development.Called to Coach is a resource for those who want to help others discover and use their strengths. https://www.gallupstrengthscenter.com/home/en-us?utm_source=youtube. On a recent Called to Coach, we spoke with Father James Mallon, Episcopal Vicar for the Archdiocese of Halifax-Yarmouth in Nova Scotia, Canada.

This episode features a conversation with His Eminence Joseph William Cardinal Tobin, Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey. Ordained in 1978, Cardinal Tobin served as a pastor in Holy Redeemer Parish in his hometown of Detroit, Michigan until 1990. He also served in a number of diocesan assignments within the Archdiocese of Detroit, including: Episcopal Vicar; member of the Presbyteral Council, and; official in the Metropolitan Tribunal. In addition, throughout much of his career, Cardinal Tobin served in a number of positions within the Redemptorist Congregation, including as the General Consultor of the Community in Rome from 1991 until 1997, and as Superior General of the Redemptorists in Rome from 1997 until 2009. On August 9, 2010, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Cardinal Tobin to the Roman Curia post of Secretary of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (CICLSA), and titular Archbishop of Obba. On October 18, 2012, Pope Benedict appointed him to serve as the Sixth Archbishop of Indianapolis. In 2016, Pope Francis elevated him to the College of Cardinals and appointed him as the Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Newark.

On May 16, Thomas Aquinas College celebrated its 43rd Commencement Exercises, honoring the 91 members of the Class of 2017. The day began with the Baccalaureate Mass of the Holy Spirit in Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel. Rev. Paul Scalia, Episcopal Vicar for Clergy in the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, served as the principal celebrant and homilist.

From jumping out of airplanes to witnessing a resurgence of Catholic faith in Europe, Auxiliary Bishop F. Richard Spencer shares his experiences as both a former U.S. Army Chaplain and the Episcopal Vicar of Europe and Asia. Bishop Spencer describes his sense of closeness to heaven while in midair free fall, his encounters with roadside bombs in Iraq, and contrary to reports of Europeans abandoning the Catholic faith in waves of secularism, his witness to a return to the church by many, particularly since the pontificate of Pope Francis. Bishop Spencer shares insights from a chapter he wrote for a new book called "Prayer in the Catholic Tradition" edited by Robert J. Wicks(Franciscan Media, 2016). The chapter, entitled "Military Postures in Prayer: Moments of Spiritual Intimacy," explores specific ways of praying in the context of Catholic Military Life.

This is a rebroadcast of a 2012 interview with Fr. Cinquegrani. October 11, 2012, marked the 50th anniversary of the opening convocation of the Second Vatican Council.  Called by Pope John XXIII, the decisions made at the council affected every aspect of theology and worship within the Church.  In the wake of Vatican II, the Catholic Church began to worship in native languages, reaffirmed the centrality of the Bible in the life of the faithful, and began to reach out to the modern world and those of other faiths in unprecedented ways. Our guest, Fr. Bruce Cinquegrani, looks back over a lifetime spent in the priesthood.  Fr. Bruce's ministry parallels the last half century of the post-Vatican II Church.  Deciding to become a priest in the years immediately before the council, he entered the pastorate in a Church profoundly different than what he expected.  Yet for Fr. Bruce, and many priest like him, his feelings are not of disappointment, but of hope for what is still to come as the effects of Vatican II continue to unfold. Fr. Bruce Cinquegrani is pastor of St. Brigid Parish, TN, and is Episcopal Vicar for Divine Worship, Spiritual Life, and Catechesis in the Diocese of Memphis. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ramon Luzarraga, Ph.D., Theology Department chair at Benedictine University in Mesa helps us understand what the Church teaches about suicide. Msgr. Felix Shabi, Episcopal Vicar for the Chaldean Catholic Church of Arizona and pastor of Mar Abraham and Holy Family parishes gives us a glimpse into the crisis in Iraq. Debbie Georgianni, community relations director […]

Today's topics: Pope Francis & Cardinal Seán give interviews; Mercy and forgiveness; New episcopal vicar Summary of today's show: Our Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Gregory Tracy, Fr. Roger Landry and Dom Bettinelli consider the news headlines of the week, including Pope Francis' latest interview in an Italian newspaper; Cardinal Seán's interview with the Pilot reflecting on Pope Francis' first year; Pope Francis on God's mercy and sinners vs. the corrupt; and appointment of a new episcopal vicar. Listen to the show: Today's host(s): Scot Landry Today's guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River. Links from today's show: 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: Vatican Secretariat of the Economy; Consistory; Benedict's Resignation Anniversary; Papal Visit?; Episcopal Vicar Summary of today's show: Our usual Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Gregory Tracy, and Fr. Roger Landry consider the headlines of the week, including the historic change at the Vatican when Pope Francis created the new Secretariat of the Economy; the consistory at which 19 new cardinals were created; reflecting on the resignation of Pope-emeritus Benedict one year later; the possibility of a papal visit to Boston; and a new Episcopal Vicar for Boston. Listen to the show: Today's host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today's guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today's show: 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: Cardinals advise Pope; Pope renews Passport; Confession; Pope on Marriage; Bishop Deeley; Episcopal Vicar; Pilgrimages Summary of today's show: Our usual Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Gregory Tracy, and Fr. Roger Landry discussed the news headlines of the week, including recommendations from the Council of Cardinals to Pope Francis; the Pope renews his Argentine passport; Pope Francis talking about confession and addressing engaged couples; and the importance of pilgrimage. Listen to the show: Today's host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today's guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River 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: Catholic Faith Essentials and the New Evangelization Summary of today's show: What is the New Evangelization and how is it being carried out in the Church, the Archdiocese of Boston, our parishes and our homes? Bishop Arthur Kennedy and Michael Lavigne join Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O'Connor to discuss the New Evangelization, its aim to address those who are already baptized Catholic and renew their faith to teach them the way of Christian life, and the tools that are offered, including the online course Catholic Faith Essentials. Listen to the show: Today's host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O'Connor Today's guest(s): Bishop Arthur Kennedy, Episcopal Vicar for the New Evangelization, and Michael Lavigne, Senior Associate in the Office of the Episcopal Vicar Links from today's show: Just what is the New Evangelization? Come hear a presentation by the Office of the Episcopal Vicar for the New Evangelization on this topic, “What is the New Evangelization: Teaching the Art of Living,” at the following parishes: St. Thomas Aquinas, Jamaica Plain on November 5 Our Lady Help of Christians, Newton on November 7 Saint Maria Goretti, Lynnfield on November 13 Sacred Heart, Middleborough on November 21 Saint Monica, Methuen on November 21 All workshops will begin at 7:00 p.m. and should conclude at 8:30 p.m. To register for any of these workshops, please email Joan Lamar at joan_lamar@rcab.org or call at 617.746.5749. Plus, you can enter to win a free copy of Fr. Robert Barron's new video, “Catholicism: The New Evangelization.”

Today's topics: Pope Francis' encyclical Lumen fidei (Light of Faith) Summary of today's show: Pope Francis issued his first encyclical, called Lumen fidei, last week, building on the work Pope Benedict had already completed in his encyclicals on charity and hope and in the first draft of this encyclical that he wrote before stepping down. Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams discuss this new encyclical with Michael Lavigne and Donald Smith of the Office of the Episcopal Vicar for the New Evangelization of the Archdiocese of Boston. As we journey through this Year of Faith, this exposition of faith explains how the light of faith guides us through the journey of life, in both good times and times of suffering. Listen to the show: Today's host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today's guest(s): Michael Lavigne and Donald Smith Links from today's show:

Summary of today's show: For the Year of Faith called by Pope Benedict, the Archdiocese of Boston is offering Catholic Faith Essentials, an innovative new course for adults which is provided primarily through live webcasting to parishes and homes through the archdiocese and anywhere in the world. Scot Landry talks with Bishop Arthur Kennedy and Michael Lavigne about the Year of Faith, Catholic Faith Essentials, and the topics and speakers over 30 sessions for next one year plus. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today's host(s): Scot Landry Today's guest(s): Bishop Arthur Kennedy, Episcopal Vicar for the New Evangelization, and Michael Lavigne Links from today's show: Today's topics: Catholic Faith Essentials Show notes: Catholic Faith Essentials uses new technology to help people connect with their faith through a series of reflections and topics related to faith. They will have pre- and post-reading that will help attendees reflect on what they will hear. Participants can participate individually and in groups as they can and if they cannot participate live on Mondays, they will be able to watch the recordings of the speakers later on the Year of Faith, Boston website or at BostonCatholicLive.com. They will also be able to submit questions before and during the talks and some will be answered live or others after the event. It's a unique offering that is innovative and unlike any offering from other dioceses. Bishop Kennedy said we can take our faith for granted, which leaves us not seeing that action of God in our lives that is a gift. Faith is a response to the inner desire which exists in our heart by virtue of having been created been God. We can sometimes become inattentive to that desire in our hearts. There are two aspects to faith: The content of the faith itself and the act of wanting a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ. The Year of Faith is about an intimate relationship with Christ himself. For it to be a true relationship, there has to be a selfless giving of each person to the other. The act of faith is to surrender self completely to God. Faith is trust too. And when we are away from those we genuinely love and trust, we miss them. When we are not with God, we have something missing in our lives, which is the purpose and meaning that only God can give to us.

Summary of today's show: The Archdiocese of Boston is looking to the future and planning for the work of the New Evangelization. The Archdiocesan Pastoral Planning Commission has forwarded its final proposal of a pastoral plan, entitled “Disciples in Mission”, to Cardinal Seán. Scot Landry talks with Fr. Paul Soper, interim director of pastoral planning, and Michael Lavigne about the proposal's history, the massive consultation that took place with tens of thousands of Catholics, the proposal's historic recommendations, and the hope for the future found in its pages. Listen to the show: Today's host(s): Scot Landry Today's guest(s): Fr. Paul Soper, interim director for Pastoral Planning, and Michael Lavigne, special assistant to the Episcopal Vicar for the New Evangelization Links from today's show: Today's topics: Disciples in Mission: A Pastoral Plan Proposal 1st segment: Scot Landry said today's show is very important as they dive into the compenents and recommendations of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Planning Commission's proposal to Cardinal Sean. Today's guests are Fr. Paul Soper and Michael Lavigne. Scot asked Fr. Paul about the the work that led to thie proposal that went to Cardinal Sean two weeks ago. Fr. Paul said Cardinal Seán formed a formed a commission several years ago led by Fr. George Evans. That commission determined that a substantial pastoral plan was needed for the Archdiocese. In 2011 Cardinal Seán brought together a commission of 19 people to consider welcoming Catholics in to the active life of the faith; strengthening parishes; focusing on evangelizationl developing excellence in religious formation. They decided to start by focusing on the second objective because parishes are the natural unit of life in the Church. Scot said any pastoral plan has to work through the parishes because it's where we gather and live out our live in the Church, after the family. Fr. Paul said the commission spent a year looking at all sorts of ways to strengthen parishes. In December 2011, they presented a rough proposal to the priests of the archdiocese and got a lot of feedback and that started an historic moment in the Archdiocese. People at all levels of the life of the parishes met in 40 different meetings with about 5,000 people throughout the Archdiocese. They also collected eletronic feedback. About 200 parishes held open meetings and they were attended by about 20,000 people. They received about 8,000 pages of feedback. Scot said the first rough proposal had some ideas that were not supported by all the priests or the people attending the consultations. Fr. Paul said the original proposal was going to move all the priest because they thought it would be better for the collaboratives as they start out so that one parish would seem to be keep its own pastor. But the people expressed very strongly that they believed their priests were capable of overcoming that challenge and not letting this happen. The people were insistent that this could not be a cookie-cutter plan, but recognize the differences from parish to parish, with different cultures, and not just ethnic cultures. So the proposal now has a central recommendation that the collaboratives as they are inaugurated over five years that they come up with local pastoral plans for that collaborative for how they will go out and become a welcoming community. Scot said one of the key questions became personal and what will become of their parish. Fr. Paul said the document Disciples in Mission sets forward the collaborative model, with one pastor, one pastoral team, one pastoral council, and one finance council serving multiple parishes in collaboration. But it does not set forward a list of proposed collaboratives. A list went out about nine months ago and it's been re-written over and over and they are still working on it. Scot said a lot of people may have a bad memory of reorganization in 2004, which was about restructing and merging and suppressing parishes. Fr. Paul said this plan respects the integrity of individual parishes. They retain their own finances, their own name, their own canonical status, their own obligations. If two parishes are in a collaborative and one parish needs a new roof, the other parish is not required to pay for the repair. This pastoral plan recognizes we're at a crossroads. This is the moment to choose. We could give up and resign ourselves to being a small church with an uncertain future. But this pastoral plan recognizes we have the precious gift of Jesus Christ handed onto us through the centuries. This is of value not just to us, but to the whole world. We have a responsibility to proclaim the Good News to the world. Scot asked how that vigor was expressed by everyday Catholics? Fr. Paul said they didn't have the evangelization piece ready for the consultations, but almost everyone responded to those meetings that the evangelization piece was forgotten and it was heartening to see that there was near unanimous demand for including evangelization in the plan. Fr. Paul said the hiring of Michael Lavigne for the Episcopal Vicar for the New Evangelization was a key aspect of that and Michael and Fr. Paul meet on a regular basis. Scot said one of the reasons Michael was hired was that he had experience in the Diocese of Portland, Maine, which went through a similar process that is envisioned here. He asked some of what they did in the diocese of Portland. Michael said when he arrived in Portland, they had the planning process underway, recognizing they needed to be doing more evangelization. One change was that they created 29 clusters spread throughout the whole state of Maine. Bishop Malone had issued a pastoral letter emphasizing the importance of the New Evangelization and when they finished the process of restructuring all the parishes, the goal would be to be better equipped to evangelize. The Office of Lifelong Faith Formation was formed to provide training and support for these 29 clusters to put these ideas into practice. Scot said Boston is putting training in place before the grouping of parishes. Fr. Paul said the training is central to the pastoral plan and has six stages. The first stage of training is for people involved in the work of the central ministries of the Archdiocese, in leadership and management skills, the mechanics of collaboration, and the theology and practice of the New Evangelization. This will equip them to help the parishes./ Michael said Pope Benedict's writings on the New Evangelization is able to explain it in a simple way. In training they will learn that this is about conversion and a relationship with Christ. The New Evangelization is first for us, to be more converted. It's also about the Person of Christ, the Savior of the World. Scot said it took him about six months of hearing about New Evangelization to understand that the first step was his own conversion. Michael said the New Evangelization is not just about massive conference or organizations. But Pope Benedict said it's about the mustard seed, about one person at a time. It's about the call to holiness, which gives us the grace we need. Scot said another part of the training is in leadership and change management. Priests have been asking for all the training to be effective leaders and pastors. Fr. Paul said they the question, how important is training for the process. There was an overwhelmingly positive response. They had similar response of people being willing to participate. Scot said Cardinal Seán is very committed to making sure this training is done right. Fr. Paul said they will be working with the which has programs for priests called Good Leaders, Good Shepherd and for laypeople called Tending the Talents. They will provide the leadership and management training. Scot said he notes how enthusiastic CLI is about the boldness of this plan. The nex aspect of training is the practical aspects of managing two or more parishes. Fr. Paul said the finance councils will be asked to develop budgets for collaboratives instead of just one parish, for example. There are property management and canon law issues as well. 2nd segment: Fr. Paul said they have already presented the proposal to the Presbyteral Council, representing all the priests of the Archdiocese. They gave their unanimous recommendation to present the proposal to Cardinal Sean. This was the 16th time the planning commission had met with the council as they developed the proposal and in the end they wanted to give unanimous support. They also presented it to the Cardinal's Cabinet and they too gave their unanimous approval. Fr. Paul said they still hear concerns, which is about how to implement and not such much in the substance of the proposal. There is an expectation that they will hear back from Cardinal Seán about mid-November on whether he wants it put forward for implementation or if he wants it worked on some more. They will begin training of Pastoral Center staff as early as January 2013. They would also put forward the first 10 to 15 collaboratives around the same time and announce the pastors of those collaboratives in the early spring. Michael said it will be daunting and challenging but it will be doable as long we keep focused and work together. Scot now got into the specifics of the proposal. That the 288 parishes of the Archdiocese of Boston be organized into approximately 135 Parish Collaboratives, these collaboratives consisting usually of two or three parishes, but sometimes only one, and, in rare occasions four parishes. Fr. Paul said they chose this number because they felt this would result in the right size of a collaborative for a pastor to be able to have an ideal relationship with the whole community. They also didn't want them to be too big and spread the resources too thin. Scot made clear that the 288 parishes remain distinct. Fr. Paul said this is because they recognize the importance of the parish as the normal and ideal place of evangelization and for communal Catholic life. People love their parishes and they want to respect that as much as possible. Scot said we want to have a church footprint in this diocese to support 80% attendance and if we close parishes we wouldn't have enough churches for growth. The second recommendation: That the formation of the parish collaboratives be phased in, with appropriate flexibility, over a period of five years. a. Phase One would consist of at least fifteen collaboratives, geographically distributed among the regions of the archdiocese. b. Phase Two would begin a year later than Phase One, with a significant number of collaboratives. c. Phase Three would begin two years later than Phase Two, again with a significant number of collaboratives. d. Phase Four would begin either one or two years later than Phase Three, and would complete the implementation. Fr. Paul said they decided on a modest phase one that includes all the different kinds of collaboratives and parishes so that they can learn how to do this and see what works and what doesn't. Then phase two will be 50 collaboratives over two years. Same with phase three. And then phase four will be the rest. If it all starts next year, phase four would start in 2018. The third and fourth recommendations: That the parishes of each collaborative be assigned one single Pastor. … That the pastor form the staff members serving the parishes of the collaborative into a Pastoral Team Fr. Paul said 20 percent of our parishes already have one pastor serving multiple parishes. What often happens is a pastor gets sick or dies and the Cardinal asks a nearby pastor to take over, which is a reactive process. Instead, this is proactive in which they make sure the groupings are right, that they have a timetable so everybody knows what's happening and when, that there is a single team with the same mission as the pastor supporting him, and that they have sufficient training specific for multiple parish pastoring and for the New Evangelization. Scot noted that the assignment of pastors received the most feedback. The proposal now recommends that the assignment of the most suitable pastor be paramount: We recommend that, while being very respectful of the particular needs of the priests of the Archdiocese, the Archbishop of Boston give, so that the assignment of the most suitable pastor is the single most important factor in ensuring the success of the collaborative and its evangelization efforts. The Commission recommends that religious and laity, as well as clergy, be formally involved in the assignment process of pastors. It further recommends the return to the consultation process that was used in parishes in anticipation of the assignment of a new pastor. Recommendations fice, six and seven involve the collaboration of pastoral staffs and pastoral and finance councils, including: That the pastor, pastoral team, and councils of each parish collaborative participate in extensive theological and practical training for the New Evangelization preference to the goal of evangelization in every assignment of a pastor to a collaborative. Michael said it makes clear that the purpose is not just moving finances or buildings around, but preparing for the New Evangelization. Scot said each collaborative would be required to have its own pastoral plan for its community. Fr. Paul said, for example, an appendix of the proposal is about religous education, but its up to each collaborative how to manage religious education,such as how to organize it. But it has to go beyond those aspects to go into how the collaborative will evangelize, write down, and keep revisiting that plan every year and live from that plan. Scot said we're trying to be as proactive in our approach.

Summary of today's show: Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, and Gregory Tracy discussed the news headlines of the week, including the final proposal of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Planning Commission to Cardinal Seán; CatholicTV's new show “Aging Gracefully”; The lack of realization among Catholics that assisted suicide is on the ballot in November; How Marian devotion got downplayed at Vatican II; and the dedication of a Liberty Flagpole at one parish. Listen to the show: Today's host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today's guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston Links from today's show: 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: Pastoral Planning proposal; Aging Gracefully; Assisted suicide; Mary at Vatican II; Liberty Flagpole 1st segment: Scot Landry and Susan Abbott talked about busy everyone at the Pastoral Center is with the end of summer. Susan noted that the start of religious education programs on Catechetical Sunday this Sunday is keeping her office busy. Susan said today at Mass she heard St. John Chrysostom's phrase “invincible patience” and that's been on her mind all day. Scot asked Gregory Tracy about the front page story in the Pilot which is about the final proposal to Cardinal Sean from the Archdiocesan Pastoral Planning Commission. Scot said it was delivered to Cardinal Sean a couple of weeks ago. Scot said the Cardinal is now reviewing it and consulting with other bodies before making a final decision. So far, he's met with the Presbyteral Council, which unanimously recommended he accept the proposal. Last week, Scot said the Cardinal's cabinet also unanimously recommended it as well. The final decision is expected in mid to late December. Susan said she was pleased to see in the article in the Pilot that all along that this was emphasized as a proposal. Many people thought this was a rubber stamp process and a done deal. Scot said part of that is because this is the third or fourth attempt by a group to come up with a recommendation. But for this process the participation of everyone was taken. Susan said some of the original elements of this proposal were modified after feedback from the consultations throughout the archdiocese. Scot noted that the consultation over the last 10 months included 40 archdiocesan meetings with 5,000 people as well as 200 independent parish meetings representing 20,000 people. They received more than 8,000 single-spaced pages of feedback. They consulted 16 times with the Presbyteral council and the Commission itself met 31 times. Fr. Paul Soper, the interim pastoral planning director, said this is an historic consultation. Greg concurred that he'd never seen or heard of such an extensive consultation with as much give and take and feedback. He added that it is clear that changes were made based on the feedback, including the biggest item concerning how pastors for the proposed collaboratives would be chosen as well as phasing in the changes versus making a massive change in a short time. He noted that there will be an initial voluntary first phase. Scot said the proposal is available for anyone to read on the link above. He said it's a thorough document and anyone who cares about the Church should read it. He noted that it is also written very clearly. Susan said that damage is done when people argue based on what they've heard, rather than reading the primary sources first. She encouraged everyone to read it with an open mind. Greg agreed and said he's heard people talking and sharing information that was incorrect and he attempted to correct them. He said that's one of the reasons why they wrote a story that was so long. Scot said tomorrow's show will be dedicated to looking at the proposal in depth. He provided a summary. The first part of the document is focused on strengthening parishes and the second is on strengthening parishes for the work of the New Evangelization. He listed some of the highlights, including the 288 parishes of the Archdiocese will be grouped in approximately 135 Parish Collaboratives, usually consisting of two or three parishes. They will be phased in over a period of five years. The collaboratives will be assigned one single Pastor. Scot noted that most pastors have said this is where the archdiocese needs to go, but they need training on how to accomplish the goals of the pastoral plan. Each collaborative will be asked to come up with a local pastoral plan within 12 months of implementation of the collaborative. The recommendation also includes pastoral training for priests and lay pastoral staff by the Office of the Episcopal Vicar for the New Evangelization, the Catholic Leadership Institute, and the Office of Pastoral Planning. There are also separate recommendations from the Religious Education Task Force and the Committee to Study Lay Formation Programs which the APPC recommends be implemented in their entirety. Greg said this is a monumental undertaking. The focus of the discussions he's heard so far has focused on administration and organization, but the training is really worth noting. He was taken aback by the massive undertaking of all the training that they plan. If it all comes to fruition, we will have one of the best formed dioceses in the US. He thinks a lot of the controversies we see, it comes from confusion about what the Catholic faith is, and this training plan helps deal with that lack of understanding. Scot said Cardinal Sean is serious that this plan is about the New Evangelization and giving significant training so we can be effective at evangelization. Susan said certification of catechists comes through the Archdiocese and her office, and this planning process has given them the impetus to get everything properly set up and improve how they standardize and certify everyone. 2nd segment: Scot said “Aging Gracefully” is a new series on CatholicTV, and the host is Fr. Michael Sheehan, SJ,the provincial of the local Jesuit province who also happens to be a medical doctor. Greg said while the show never says they're motivated by the assisted suicide debate, they do say that this is a moment to talk about the elderly and how they can live their life well. Greg said it deals with the many aspects of living a full life. There are five episodes that talk about spirituality, how to talk to your physician, thinking about and preparing for death, and more. Scot said it's all very practical. The elderly need to be able to advocate for themselves with their doctors. Susan said Fr. Sheehan is amazing and heard him speak at a presentation at the Pastoral Center and saw him on Fr. Chris Hickey's TV show “Going My Way.” Also in the Pilot this week is a story about St. Augustine Parish in Andover dedicated a Liberty Flagpole in honor of September 11. They dedicated the pole a day earlier so that those they invited would also be able to attend 9/11 celebrations. It was prompted by a parishioner asking why there wasn't a flagpole in the sanctuary. Greg said there are no regulations concerning the practice, but it began during World War II. Later on the US Bishops recommended that symbols apart from the worship of Christ should be outside the sanctuary. Fr. Peter Gori, the pastor, explained all this in his bulletin, and then said tongue-in-cheek that if anyone wanted to dedicate a flagpole to the church, he would welcome it. One parishioner immediately donated the flagpole and another couple donated the flags. Fr. Gori said it honors every citizen who has strived to be both a good American and a good Catholic. The flagpole was dedicated to the men and women of St. Augustine Parish who served in the U.S. Armed Forces throughout the years. “My greatest passion has always been to serve God and my country,” [Claude] Gallant [the donor of the flags] said. In The Anchor this week was a story about the efforts to oppose Question 2 on the ballot in November about the legalization of assisted suicide. There was discussion that an issue like this should be debated in public in the Legislature so that the voters can be informed and heard before a vote. A ballot question avoids all that and many of the people the Anchor talked to were shocked to learn that this is on the ballot. Scot said if people like the listeners of TGCL or who go to church on a regular basis or read The Pilot and The Anchor don't take up the baton and engage others on Question Two, then we face an uphill battle to oppose it. Greg said those of us who work in the Church and especially in the media, we can think we're overdoing coverage of this issue, but he knows that you have to keep hammering it home because you never know which article someone will pick up and get informed. Scot said it's important to know that arguments put forward by the broad-based coalition opposing the ballot initiative are not faith-based arguments, of which there are plenty. There are also arguments that are very practical and can be apprehended by anyone, whatever their faith background. Susan noted that there will be a series of workshops taking place throughout the Archdiocese that start next week. The list of workshops is . Scot said yesterday's show was a great discussion with Dr. Ken Stevens, an oncologist from Oregon where assisted suicide has been the law for more than a decade. He said DR. Stevens brought up a great point that a state can't on the one hand say assisted suicide is okay, while also saying that other kinds of suicide is bad. Scot said tonight, Cardinal Seán will be on EWTN's The World Over with Raymond Arroyo at 8pm. It can be heard on WQOM or on TV. Also, on October 3 at 8pm, Cardinal Sean will be hosting a live virtual town hall on CatholicTV, simulcast on WQOM, at 8pm. Starting that evening, Cardinal Seán is asking all Catholic families to pray a daily rosary to defeat this ballot question. The Cardinal has recorded special episodes of the Rosary to air on CatholicTV for this purpose. This will air five or six times per day until November 6. 3rd segment: This week's benefactor card raffle winner is Joseph Montuori from Newton Upper Falls, MA He wins A CD from the Envoy Institute: “An Antidote to Atheism” by Msgr. Stuart Swetland, and the booklet “Catholics in the Public Square” by Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted of Phoenix. If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you'll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM's weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We'll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 4th segment: Scot noted that there was a big conference at the Vatican on Marian devotion. Fr. James Phalan of the Mariological Society told the academic conference that a misreading of Vatican II led to a collapse in Marian devotion. He said people interpreted some of the debates on where to include devotion to Mary in the documents as being a downgrading of devotion. He also said that was connected to a collapse in devotion to the Holy Spirit. He described it as overly rational. At the same time, Pope Benedict XVI during an audience remembered that debate over where to include a document on Mary. There wassome talk about having a separate document, but they ultimately decided to include it as part of Lumen Gentium. The Pope recalled the vote of Oct. 23, 1963, in which it was decided to include a chapter on Mary in Lumen Gentium. In this chapter, he said, “the figure of Mary – reinterpreted and reproposed in the context of the Word of God, the texts of the patristic and liturgical traditions, as well as a broad theological and spiritual reflection – appears in all of its beauty and singularity, well inserted in the fundamental mysteries of the Christian faith.” The Holy Father said there were good reasons to make this part of the Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium). He then reflected on how popular piety is nourished by biblical and patristic references. “The singular figure of the Mother of God must be developed and studied from diverse and complimentary perspectives: while the ‘via veritas' (way of truth) is always valid, we must not forsake the ‘via pulchritudinis' (way of beauty) and the ‘via amoris' (way of love) to discover and contemplate still more profoundly Mary's crystalline and solid faith, her love for God, her indestructible hope.”

Summary of today's show: The Year of Faith declared by Pope Benedict XVI is rapidly approaching and Archbishop Rino Fisichella, head of the Vatican's efforts centered on the New Evangelization, recently gave a landmark address on the topic to an Australian national conference on the topic. Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O'Connell are joined by Michael Lavigne to discuss the address and to talk about what the New Evangelization and the Year of Faith will mean for us in Boston. Listen to the show: Today's host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O'Connell Today's guest(s): Michael Lavigne of the Office of the Episcopal Vicar for the New Evangelization Links from today's show: Today's topics: Archbishop Rino Fisichella on the Year of Faith and the New EVangelization 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed Fr. Mark O'Connell to the show. Fr. Mark said at the end of each summer, the SMA Fathers, an African missionary order based in Dedham, welcomes people from all over the archdiocese, including Cardinal Seán and many archdiocesan priests. There was a Mass celebrated by the cardinal and a dinner with traditional African foods. Scot said today we will be discussing an address given by Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for New Evangelization, to the the Church in Australia. He discussed the upcoming Year of Faith that has been proclaimed by Pope Benedict, including just what it is and what we're expected to do. 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Mark welcome Michael Lavigne from the Office of the Episcopal Vicar for the New Evangelization. Michael said plans for the upcoming Year of Faith are well underway and they hope to make announcements after Labor Day. Scot said Cardinal Seán has allocated a lot of resources in the archdiocese to the Year of Faith. Michael explained what the New Evangelization is. He said it's focus is on those who are already baptized, especially those who are Catholic, including those who have fallen away from the faith or even those who sit next to us in the pews who don't know the faith or don't know friendship with Christ. Scot said growing up here, after he went through CCD in eight grade, confirmation prep was not formal catechetical classes and then there was nothing after that. Beyond eighth grade, for most people it was a self-study. This New Evangelization is tied to adult faith formation. Michael said he grew up very involved in his church, but realized at age 19 that he didn't really know about about the faith. Now today we have the Internet and all kinds of resources and we need to do a better job at pointing people to those resources. Scot asked Michael about the difference between knowing about Christ and knowing him in a personal way. Michael said the idea of truly embracing the faith and being called to holiness wasn't present in his childhood. His knowledge of the faith was more about himself than about Christ and others. Scot said for those listening who feel the same way Michael did, they shouldn't feel like they have done something wrong. The Year of Faith is a recognition that many Catholics are in this same boat. Fr. Mark said it's the responsibility of the community to be evangelizers to the community and not to be alone in their own faith. Scot said Archbishop Fisichella, as the leader of the Vatican efforts in the Year of Faith, was invited to address an Australia-wide evangelization conference. It's the first time he's given such a significant address in English and it applies to the whole English-speaking world. The address is entitled “The timeliness of the proclamation” and begins: In the very first line of his Motu Proprio, Ubicumque et Semper, which officially established the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization, Pope Benedict XVI draws the attention of all to the person of Jesus Christ. “It is the duty of the Church to proclaim always and everywhere the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He, the first and supreme evangelizer, commanded the Apostles on the day of his Ascension to the Father: ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you'” (Mt 28:19). Such a beginning emphasizes both the necessity of placing Jesus Christ at the center of the new evangelization and the importance of recognizing that the faith received from the Apostles and that which is to be preached is namely the person of Jesus Christ. Scot said when you think of all the Church teaching and all the books written about the faith, Archbishop Fisichella is saying that's all great but let's boil it down to the Good News of Jesus Christ and the person of Jesus. Fr. Mark said there is a unique approach here by the Pope and the archbishop: We need to have a personal relationship with Jesus, beyond being in church on Sundays. Michael said being Christian is first and foremost about Jesus Christ and the essential truths about Him. Scot said there's so much we do as Catholics, like our social ministries, but even before we begin those good acts, we need to slow down and reflect on the revelation, love, and person of Jesus Christ, who took on flesh and taught us so much, and then offered himself as a sacrifice for us only to rise again. We have to take time to reflect on that, especially if we're too busy doing all the other things we have to do as Christians. Michael said we should awake every morning and re-center ourselves in Christ, to reflect on this beautiful gift of life. From both Scripture and Tradition, we can see that the path of the new evangelization has been marked out: we are called to renew the proclamation of Jesus Christ, of the mystery of his death and resurrection to stimulate people once more to have faith in him by means of conversion of life. If our eyes were still capable of seeing into the depths of the events which mark the lives of our contemporaries, it would be easy to show how much this message still holds a place of special importance. Therefore, we need to direct our reflection towards the meaning of life and death, and of life beyond death; to face such questions, those affecting people's existence and determining their personal identity, Jesus Christ cannot be an outsider. If the proclamation of the new evangelization does not find its power in the element of mystery which surrounds life and which relates us to the infinite mystery of the God of Jesus Christ, it will not be capable of the effectiveness required to elicit the response of faith. Scot said he says we just need to tie this mystery of Jesus Christ to the biggest questions: What is the meaning of life? What is the meaning of death? What happens after death? Michael said every human being is wired to ask those questions and we know the answer starts first and foremost with Jesus Christ. Fr. Mark said the key is to make it relevant to the people in the pew. They can't just start from scratch: “You need to love Jesus more.” We need to show them why it's important to give this priority. Scot said the archbishop is saying to compete with everything else in life first with the big questions. The ideologies that de-evangelize people don't have answers to these questions. Michael said when his brother's firstborn was born, he told him about the excitement and how when he first held his daughter, it made him think about God and how God made him and why God made him. We need to engage people in the every day moments to evangelize them in that way. Christ, who is the new Adam, revealing the mystery of the Father and of his love, reveals man fully to himself and manifests to him his most exalted vocation… Through the Incarnation, the Son of God united himself in a certain sense to every human being. He worked with human hands, thought with human intelligence, acted with a human will and loved with a human heart. Being born of the Virgin Mary, he made himself truly one of us, like us in all things but sin. The innocent lamb, freely shedding his blood, he earned for us eternal life; in him God has reconciled us to himself and with one another and he has torn us away from slavery to the devil and to sin, such that each one of us can say, along with the apostle: the Son of God ‘has loved me and sacrificed himself for me' (Gal 2:20). By suffering for us, he has not only given us an example that we might follow in his steps, but he has also opened up for us the way we are to go; if we follow it, life and death will be sanctified and will be given new meaning” (Quoting from Gaudium et Spes, the 2nd Vatican Council document) Fr. Mark said Jesus loves us as we are. We don't have to get our lives in order first. Jesus walks with us and gives meaning to us in this life. Yet, before proceeding to a further discussion on the Year of Faith, it is necessary to examine, from a unique perspective, the present crisis in which society finds itself; that with respect to its connection to the question of God. The new evangelization cannot think that this question lies beyond its field. In contrast to the past, today we do not encounter great systems of atheism, if they were ever great; hence, the question of God needs to be addressed in a different way. Today God is not denied, but is unknown. In some respects, it could be said that, paradoxically, interest in God and in religion has grown. Nevertheless, what I note is the strong emotive connotation and declining religion in the plural; there is no interest in a religion and much less for the theme of the ‘true religion'; what seems to count are, rather, religious experiences. People are looking for different modalities of religion, selected by everyone taking up that which they find pleasing in the sense of ensuring for them that religious experience which they find more satisfying on the basis of their interests or needs at the moment. To this must be added that, especially for the younger generations, their horizon of understanding is characterized by a mentality strongly influenced by scientific research and by technology. These achievements, unfortunately, already hold the upper hand, even with respect to the basic elements of grammar and to culture in general. Thus, the new evangelization requires the capacity to know how to give an explanation of our own faith, showing Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the sole savior of humanity. To the extent that we are capable of this, we will be able to offer our contemporaries the response they are awaiting. Scot said the challenge if the New Evangelization today is not competing with atheism, but the bad practice of religion, a watered-down form of religious practice. People say they are spiritual, but not religious. Michael recalled how in his youth, the church youth group was not appreciably different from the Boy Scouts or other organizations and so people feel okay going anywhere. Scot said it's a consumeristic view in seeking experiences that make me feel good, but not seeking the truth or anything that makes us uncomfortable in a good way. Fr. Mark likes the line: “we will be able to offer our contemporaries the response they are awaiting.” The only way to do that is to be more involved in our own faith, to know our own faith, to be part of our parish in a meaningful way. The new evangelization begins once more from this point, from the conviction that grace acts upon us and transforms us to the point of bringing about a conversion of heart, and of the credibility of our witness. … Hiding away in our churches might bring us some consolation, but it would render Pentecost vain. It is time to throw open wide the doors and to return to announcing the resurrection of Christ, whose witnesses we are. As the holy bishop Ignatius wrote, “It is not enough to be called Christians; we must be Christians in fact.” If someone today wants to recognize Christians, he must be able to do so not on the basis of their intentions, but on the basis of their commitment in the faith. If we want to be effective in the New Evangelization, we need to first ask for a conversion in ourselves. And then through ourselves, witness through our actions. Fr. Mark related a story he heard from a comedian who gives himself credit for having charitable thoughts, but never follows through. Michael said we need to have an integrity. Thus, the Year of Faith is a path, an opportunity, that the Christian community offers to the many people who possess a longing for God and a profound desire to meet him again in their lives. It is essential, therefore, that believers recognize the responsibility to provide an authentic companionship of faith, to become a neighbor to those who seek the reasons for and explanations of our Catholic beliefs. These opportunities, provided by the Year of Faith to form authentic friendships in faith, bring to the fore the very question of community. Scot said Christianity is a team sport, meant to be experienced as a group where we all work together to help each other. Fr. Mark reflected on what makes a good neighbor, someone who's willing to help out, who is concerned with your well-being. Michael said the Archdiocese's efforts will be focusing on the creed and the Catechism and the meaning of the Second Vatican Council. The second part will be to focus on prayer and all the different ways we all pray as Catholics. The third part will be becoming active witnesses to those around us, discerning the ways the Holy Spirit is giving us the opportunity to act and to share our faith with others. Scot said there will be a lot of opportunities to come together in person, including for those who haven't been to church in a long time. Michael said this will be at both the parish level and archdiocesan level. Fr. Mark said some people are afraid of studying, that there is a fear that the faith is out of touch. He said the Church is pointing out in particular the documents of the Vatican II and they are rich and have the answers and are relevant. Scot said the Catechism of the Catholic Church is a tremendous document, but it may be difficult to read for beginners, so he recommends the YouCat, which is very accessible given in question and answer format. Scot wanted to end with two quotes from Archbishop Fisichella. The first was from Cardinal Ratzinger made about a week before he was made Pope: “What we need at this time of history are people, who, through a faith which is enlightened and lived out in practice, make God credible in this world … We need people who keep their gaze fixed upon God, learning from there what true humanity is. We need people whose intellect is enlightened by the light of God and whose hearts God may open up in such a way that their intellect may speak to the intellect of others and that their hearts may open the hearts of others. Only through people who are touched by God can God return to humanity.” Hence, the new evangelization starts from here: from the credibility of our living as believers and from the conviction that grace acts and transforms to the point of converting the heart. It is a journey which still finds Christians committed to it after two thousand years of history. Scot's favorite part is that we need people who keep their gaze fixed on God, learning from there was true humanity is. Michael said the key to what we do is that it's all about Who, Jesus Christ. God uses as instruments of grace for those around us. It's about God first and foremost so I let go of me and let God work through me. Fr. Mark said we often hear people say they wish they listened years ago, but the Year of Faith is an opportunity for us to jump in now. Archbishop Fishichella concluded with this story from the Middle Ages: A poet passed by some work being conducted and saw three workers busy at their work; they were stone cutters. He turned to the first and said: ‘What are you doing, my friend?' This man, quite indifferently, replied: ‘I am cutting a stone'. He went a little further, saw the second and posed to him the same question, and this man replied, surprised: ‘I am involved in the building of a column'. A bit further ahead, the pilgrim saw the third and to this man also he put the same question; the response, full of enthusiasm, was: ‘I am building a cathedral'. The old meaning is not changed by the new work we are called to construct. There are various workers called into the vineyard of the Lord to bring about the new evangelization; all of them will have some reason to offer to explain their commitment. What I wish for and what I would like to hear is that, in response to the question: ‘What are you doing, my friend?', each one would be able to reply: ‘I am building a cathedral'. Every believer who, faithful to his baptism, commits himself or herself with effort and with enthusiasm every day to give witness to their own faith offers their original and unique contribution to the construction of their great cathedral in the world of today. It is the Church of our Lord, Jesus, his body and his spouse, the people constantly on the way without ever becoming weary, which proclaims to all that Jesus is risen, has come back to life, and that all who believe in him will share in his own mystery of love, the dawn of a day which is always new and which will never fade. Fr. Mark said he knows that God has created each one of us for a reason and while we could spend our lives running away from that meaning, we should spend our lives understanding and fulfilling what God has called us to do. 3rd segment: Now as we do every week at this time, we will consider the Mass readings for this Sunday, specifically the Gospel reading. Jesus said to the crowds: "I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world." The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever." Scot said the readings hits both the original hearers of the time and us today. He said we are called to “gnaw” on the flesh of Jesus and drink his blood, as it literally says in the original Greek. For Jews to even touch blood was to become unclean, so this was incredibly shocking. To follow him as a disciple we need to understand the great gift of the Eucharist for us. Michael said this is the source and summit of the Christian life and who we are as Catholics. One of those things he wrestled with as a 19-year-old was this mystery and so he took Christ at his word and believed without having understanding. It's critical to those of us called to witness to receive the Eucharist regularly because it will empower us in all we will face. Scot said the kernel of the Good News is right here. Fr. Mark said the Old Testament fed people with literal food for the journey and Jesus gives us his body and blood as true food for the journey, whatever journey we take. If we live the Christian life the right way, we will be uncomfortable at times, but Jesus gives us what we need to accept whatever challenge we receive. Scot said this reading tells us not to take the Eucharist for granted. This food nourishes us for eternity. Michael said St. Thomas Aquinas points out that Christians live life abundantly, but that with the Eucharist we live out life super-abundantly, ultimately with God in heaven. It gives us a taste of heaven. Scot said we can take the greatest things in our life for granted, even our spouses and children. We have to approach the Eucharist without taking it for granted. Fr. Mark said if we truly understood and didn't take it for granted truly, we would approach the altar on our knees and in awe. Michael said the Eucharist is the source of the Christian life because all grace that enables us comes from us. It's the summit because it's the place where we gather as a community, as brothers and sisters in faith.

Summary of today's show: Michael Lavigne has worked in Catholic ministry for two decades, including the last four years leading faith formation efforts for all ages in the Diocese of Portland, Maine. Now he's come to the Archdiocese of Boston to assist the office of the new Episcopal Vicar for the New Evangelization as we prepare for the Year of Faith. Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams talk to Michael about his years in parish ministry with young people, teaching high school theology, and then working at the diocesan level. Also, Jim Wright of the Station of the Cross stops by discuss the latest WQOM news including big updates to their smartphone apps. Listen to the show: Today's host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today's guest(s): Michael Lavigne and Jim Wright Links from today's show: Today's topics: Michael Lavigne and the New Evangelization 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show and noted today is the Feast of St. James the Greater. Fr. Matt Williams said he is the greater because he was martyred first, because he was present with Jesus at moments that 9 of the apostles wasn't, because of his authority in Jerusalem; or because he was just taller than the other James. Fr. Matt is very busy this week. Tomorrow begins their middle school leadership retreat called Witness to Hope. Tonight he's going to be at the Espousal Center for praise and worship, Mass, and a Holy Spirit empowerment primarily for young people. They will pray for a deeper receptivity to the Holy Spirit. It's geared to all the young people who have gone through the programs of the Office for the New Evangelization of Youth and Young Adults and to receive peer support. They announced it at the Steubenville East conference this past weekend in front of 2,700 young people. Scot noted the is in Waltham. Speaking of Steubenville East, Fr. Matt said it was a phenomenal time with dynamic and gifted speakers. The theme was The Eighth Day, which is the day of the Resurrection. It's held now at the University of Rhode Island. Monday night is a the high school harbor cruise. There's still room for participants. Sign up at the website. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Jim Wright, the owner and founder of the Station of the Cross radio network and WQOM. Jim said he's in town for some business and stopped by. They're looking for office space for the local studio. Scot said he often hears from people how appreciative they are that Catholic radio came to Boston. Jim thanked all the listeners supporting the Station of the Cross and asked them to continue. The work is intended to bring the people back to the parishes. Scot said Jim has been in the Catholic radio ministry for more than a decade. He said Catholic radio grows by listeners recommending it and introducing to others. Jim suggested approaching your family first. Jim said August 15 will make 13 years for the Station of the Cross being on the air. Jim said the same day is also the anniversary for EWTN. Scot said the new iPhone and Android apps are just recently updated with new capabilities. Jim said you can get all of the stations of the network and a Spanish feed as well. It has podcasts as well. They're planning more features too. To find it in iTunes or an Android marketplace, search for iCatholicFM or iCatholicRadio. Scot said Cardinal Seán would love to see even more content for Spanish-speaking people. Jim asked people to pray for a dedicated Spanish Catholic radio station. 3rd segment: Scot and Fr. Matt welcomed Michael Lavigne to the show. He is senior associate to the episcopal vicar for the New Evangelization. Scot said Michael used to work for the Diocese of Portland, Maine, and they launched three Catholic radio stations there. Michael said the Presence Radio network began a year after the Office of Lifelong Faith Formation was formed. They were overjoyed at being able to collaborate with the radio stations. Scot said Bishop Malone had wanted to raise funds for Catholic radio as a primary effort of the New Evangelization in Maine. Scot asked Michael where he comes from. Michael is originally from Woonsocket, Rhode Island. He married his wife Lori and lived in Providence for four years. They moved to Maine for four years and now moved to Boston. He began working for the Church two decades ago when called by a priest. He was the pastor of his parish when he was a junior in college and active in youth ministry. The pastor asked him to be youth minister and has worked for the Church ever since. At the parish level, Michael moved from the old model of CCD and CYO to a new comprehensive youth ministry vision for the parish. They developed a task force in the parish. They realized that young people were dealing with more and more difficult issues they hadn't seen prominently before. The task force looked to change things up and ensure that everything was Christocentric, steeped in sacraments and prayer. In the past, everything they did in youth ministry, whether athletics or prayer, had been of equal focus. So they introduced them to Eucharistic adoration which brought them to regular Mass attendance. Michael said the world we live in is so busy and so fast with so much competing for our attention. For some young people, 20 minutes in adoration was an eternity. But once they experienced it, they wanted more of it. The kids said they loved being silent, sitting there letting Christ love them, knowing they were being prayed for. Fr. Matt said for a long time we were afraid to offer the sacraments or adoration because we thought they would be bored and we thought everything had to be fun. It might be because we aped so much of Protestant youth ministry, which doesn't do the sacraments. Some thought this meant that sacraments wouldn't interest them. But because of Pope John Paul II and World Youth Days, we learned they wanted to be taught. Many young people, when you teach them, have an epiphany and love what they learn. When you explain and invite, they respond. Michael said he realized early on that they also needed to reach the parents. If the kids went home to parents who extinguished the enthusiasm for the faith, they wouldn't grow in faith. They used the teens to challenge the parents to grow in faith. They created a clear message starting from the pastor that the parents are always welcome in any youth ministry program. They prepared for everything, including bringing in their kids to register and how they would welcome them and be open to them. Michael told a story of a women who thought she couldn't register her kids because her husband had left her. Not only did they register the kids, they got her an appointment with the pastor. Michael also taught theology in high school and coordinated confirmation. Michael said in school he had them every single day. At first it was a trial to have enough material to cover and to ensure that he would be real to them, to challenge them. His job was to witness to the Church's teaching and why it teaches it and then show it in his own life. He said every Catholic who encounters young people has to step up and show we have a relationship with Christ that we are truly living. When they see us, they need to see someone who is proud to be Catholic with their spouse, their kids, their co-workers, their sports teams, etc. He believes he was able to make headway with these young people. After parish work, Michael moved to the Diocese of Portland and led the Office of Lifelong Faith Formation. When his situation at the high school changed, he sent out resumes. When Portland called, there were a series of events that led them to move there. There had been an office for teaching kids and and office for teens and office for young adults and some others, but they felt it was time to make the point that faith formation was for all ages and lifelong. They were strong in youth ministry but weak in formation of adults. They improved marriage preparation and RCIA. They offered something new for parents when they brought their kids for sacraments. First of all, they served the parish leaders and then offer diocesan-wide training for young people and adults to evangelize in their own lives. Scot compared the size of Providence to the size of Boston and the geographical size of Portland, Maine. He asked how they serve such a large area. Michael said it's always been the obstacle for serving the northernmost parishes. So they used technology, like web conferencing, Skype, high-def TV, websites, email, social media and the like. They found they were able to send a lot more information in a more timely manner. If someone was having a problem in a remote parish, they could talk face-to-face via Skype and make that personal connection. It's impossible to drive the state of Maine even once per year. They reached as many places as they could. Parishes responded to this.They were able to save money which they used to offer more scholarships and programs. Scot said Portland had a major pastoral planning process over the past five years in which parishes were grouped in clusters to shepherd personnel resources. He asked what they learned there that could help Boston. Michael said he came in after they'd gone through the most difficult parts of the process, like determining parish closings and mergings and the like. When he came in, he was able to say that now they'd done the hard part, it was time for the good stuff. Michael said one of the keys to their work was the catechetical certificate program from the Theological Institute for the New Evangelization at St. John Seminary. They partnered together and had offered it for two years before he left, and the fruit was visible immediately. Parish leaders who'd gone through it said they'd learned more than they ever thought. Some homeschooling parents said they would be more effective teachers of their children. Also catechists, deacons, and others who began to realize that we all need to continue to learn and grow. They also developed the New Evangelization Week. They taught young people the basics of the riches of the prayers of the Church, taught them how to use a Catechism, basics of the faith, how to defend the faith. Bishop Malone called it a Catholic boot camp. They examined what it means to be a son or daughter of God, how to relate to brothers and sisters in the faith–brother to brother and brother-to-sister. All of it was steeped in the Mass every day, Reconciliation, and more. In their second year, a priest came out of Confessions one night to say that the kids who had come the last year were telling him that they had gone to confession within the past week or month. He heard them wrestling with growing as disciples of Jesus Christ. 4th segment: This week's benefactor card raffle winner is Nancy Moan from Newton Center She wins the books and . If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you'll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM's weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We'll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 5th segment: Fr. Matt asked Michael how he went about creating a new system so that when young people are being formed that when they get to the confirmation age, they are more receptive. Michael said in Portland, they have the restored order of the sacraments, in which 2nd graders receive confirmation along with first communion and confession. They have been doing it since 1997. Scot asked the main reason to have confirmation earlier. Michael said the general concept is that they realized they were losing so many young people after confirmation as teens or not even getting confirmed so they weren't even getting the sacrament. So at an earlier age, more young people receive the grace of the sacrament. They did a 10-year study ending in 2007 and they found it didn't do anything for retaining kids in grades 3 through 8. So they tackled the 6 through 8 first, bringing the Edge program from Life Teen, jumpstarting middle school youth ministry. In high school, they still had relatively high numbers, but there was still the same question of how to keep people coming to the Church. The answer is about putting witnesses to our faith, passionately in love with the Lord, in front of everyone. When people are in love with the Lord, there is joy. Fr. Matt said where the Holy Spirit is, there is life and joy. Scot said Cardinal Sean appointed Bishop Arthur Kennedy as Episcopal Vicar for the New Evangelization and created this new office to provide more resources for the New Evangelization. Michael said in the next 12 months the focus will be twofold. First, helping the Archdiocese to focus on the Year of Faith, including a celebration to kick it off and compiling recommendations for parishes to mark the Year of Faith. Second, they want to be part of all the conversations connected to Pastoral Planning to ensure that it will really be about conversion and the New Evangelization. We need to give the leaders in the parishes to grow in Christ and in turn help them to bring that to the people in the parishes. Michael said the New Evangelization is ongoing conversion of Catholics to conform our lives to the faith, to have a deeper conversion and strive to holiness. So many of our fellow Catholics have walked away from the faith. There are even people still in our pews who don't have a relationship with Christ yet. They haven't had that conversion experience to make it their own. Scot said he got a letter from a weekly Mass-goer that he didn't really get his faith until he listened to Catholic radio and was led to take his faith more seriously.

Today's host(s): Today's host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today's guest(s): Fr. Roger Landry, executive editor of The Anchor, the newspaper of the Fall River diocese; and Gregory Tracy, managing editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston archdiocese Links from today's show: 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: New Vicar for New Evangelization, new rector for seminary; global abortion genocide of girls; Supreme Court ruling favors religious freedom; local baker puts charity first Summary of today's show: Scot Landry and Susan Abbott review the headlines of the week with Fr. Roger Landry and Gregory Tracy, including the big news that Cardinal Seán has asked Bishop Arthur Kennedy to be the new Episcopal Vicar for the New Evangelization and Msgr. James Moroney to be the new rector of St. John's Seminary; also this week Fr. Roger's hard-hitting editorial on the global genocide of girls, the Supreme Court's ruling upholding the ministerial exception, and a local baker who puts Catholic charity first and foremost by providing bread for the poor in a unique way. 1st segment: Scot welcomed Susan back to the show and noted she had car trouble this morning. They discussed how we often fail to appreciate the miracle of our cars that help us in our commute. Susan said this week the religious education office is working with new catechetical leaders to see how they're doing in their first year. They're also doing some pastoral planning sessions. Scot said there are three rounds of consultations going on and religious education teachers went through round 1 this past week. Scot said this week, priests are getting a glimpse at draft groups of parish clusters. He emphasized that the materials shared at those consultations become available the afternoon of the meetings at . He encouraged listeners to go the documents and also repeated that everything is in draft stage right now, just to get feedback. Susan also asked everyone to keep this process in prayer. Scot said today Cardinal Seán is announcing a new vicar for the New Evangelization and a new rector for St. John's Seminary and that's our first story after the break. 2nd segment: Scot and Susan welcome Fr. Roger and Gregory back to the show. Scot said this week's Pilot has a big headline. Bishop Arthur Kennedy has been appointed Episcopal Vicar for the New Evangelization as of July 1 and Msgr. James Moroney has been named to replace him as rector of St. John Seminary. Scot said Bishop Kennedy was ordained a bishop for Boston on September 14, 2010. At the time it was expected a replacement as rector would be named. He's done a great job expanding enrollment at the seminary bringing it from 25 seminarians to a full-enrollment of more than 100. It's not clear yet what Bishop Kennedy will do, but Scot's sense is that he will oversee a lot of the Year of Faith activities and oversee efforts to strengthen evangelization efforts in parishes. Susan said this is great news and pointed out that he is also a native son of West Roxbury. She said she has worked with Bishop Kennedy with her work at the Master of Arts in Ministry program and Theological Institute for the New Evangelization at St. John's. As sad as she might be to see him leave the seminary, the appointment of Msgr. Moroney takes away the sadness. Scot said one Bishop Kennedy's responsibilities will be to oversee expansion of TINE. Fr. Roger said Bishop Kennedy has done an extraordinary job in just five years. Cardinal Sean, who has placed a premium on seminarian formation, has taken a spectacular rector and put him in a place to lead formation of the laity and shows how important this task is to Cardinal Sean. It underscores the priority that Cardinal Seán is giving to this initiative for new evangelization. Fr. Roger said if Cardinal Seán had done a nationwide search for a replacement rector, everyone would have picked Msgr. Moroney. He said everyone expected Msgr. Moroney would be a bishop by now, but thanks to the bishop of Worcester, where he's a priest, for giving him to the archdiocese for this task. Msgr. Moroney has been traveling the world educating priests and laity on the new translation of the Mass. He said bishops of other dioceses will be willing to send their seminarians to St. John's based on Msgr. Moroney's leadership because they will be happy to have their new priests be like Msgr. Moroney. Fr. Roger said this bolsters Cardinal Seán's hope that St. John's will be a regional seminary. Scot clarified Msgr. Moroney is a priest of the neighboring diocese of Worcester. He said Msgr. Moroney had been serving as a professor at St. John's for liturgy. He's served on a many international commissions and has run the US bishops' conference's secretariat for liturgy for a dozen years. Susan said she is thrilled and echoes everything Fr. Roger said. She added that he's brilliant, humorous, and self-deprecating and often has people at conferences and talks enthralled. Scot recommended listeners go to CatholicTV.com and watch Msgr. Moroney's program called “New and Eternal Word” on the new translation and then each week he has short reflections of each Sunday's prayers of the Mass. 3rd segment: Scot said in this week's Anchor, looking toward the 39th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, Fr. Roger wrote an editorial on the pro-choice genocide of baby girls. On Sunday, we mark the 39th anniversary of the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision that with its companion Doe v. Bolton made abortion legal in the United States for all nine months of pregnancy. These revolutionary decisions have since been celebrated by radical feminist groups as a milestone advance in the cause of women's freedom and rights, not just in the United States but internationally. The decisions, they argued, give women control over their destiny by giving them control over their bodies and whatever was in their bodies. They saved women's lives, they maintained, by preventing deaths in the ubiquitous “back alleys” by coat-hanger-wielding pseudo-doctors. The euphemisms they employed tried to claim that what was growing in them wasn't human life: at worst, the ‘fetus' was akin to a parasite or a wart; at most it was merely “potential” human life. The whole moniker of “freedom of choice” always scrupulously avoided mentioning a direct object to specify and morally qualify what one was actually choosing. Over the course of the last four decades, however, the various pro-choice mendacities, exaggerations, and euphemisms have all been exposed. Dr. Bernard Nathanson, once one of the most notorious abortion doctors in the country before his conversion from the grisly practice and to Catholicism, testified how wildly the pro-choice movement inflated and outright invented claims of maternal deaths in botched back alley abortions. “Jane Roe” herself, whose real name is Norma McCorvey, testified that her whole case was based on the lie that she had been raped and couldn't receive an abortion. Advances in embryology and in technology have made abundantly clear that what grows within a woman is clearly a human being at the very stages of existence all adult human beings have traversed. And as the discipline of demography has gotten more advanced and the pro-choice mentality has metastasized, the direct object of the “fiction of choice” has become increasingly apparent. Not only has it been exposed that the choice of abortion is the decision to end the life of a developing human being, but increasing numbers across the globe, the choice has resulted in a disproportionate slaughter of baby girls. Scot said Fr. Roger then goes on to provide some of the stats on gender-selection abortions and pre-implantation genetic diagnosis abortions. Fr. Roger said it's become apparent that pro-choice is the slaughter of young women, as opposed to be ing pro-women as pro-choicers claim. Across the world, there is a gap of 160 million girls across the world. Based on the statistical averages and biology, there should be 160 million more girls in the world today, which is mainly attributable to abortion. In China, rather than there being an expected 106 girls to every 100 boys, there are 120 boys for every 100 girls and in Beijing it's more than 200 boys for every 100 girls. There are 21 countries with unnatural levels of boys in their populations. What will happen in the future when these boys can't get married as adults. Violence will rise, sexual trafficking and exploitation, pornography will all increase. Even in the US, lawmakers have introduced a bill to ban testing in the womb to determine sex or race in order to perform abortion in order to protect unborn girls, but the so-called pro-woman pro-choice groups have come out in opposition to the law. Scot said abortion is more important than protecting women for these groups. Susan said as a member of Feminists for Life, this is the biggest lie that has ever been sold to women. they have bought the lie that abortion is a right and this is for their good. Scientifically, no one doubts whether this is human life. Now the question is whose life takes precedence and that's the slippery slope. She remembers before legalization of abortion people claimed that there would be no slippery slope to sex selection abortions or the like. Scot said science is on the side of the pro-life community. It reveals the lies and it clearly says abortion is business in this country and those behind it will do anything to protect it. Scot said to Greg that people will object to the editorial for using words like genocide and feticide. Greg said to call it anything less would fall into the trap of euphemisms and softening the truth. He points out that this isn't us imposing our personal choice or morality on others. He noted that the CIA had a report a few years ago that one of the biggest problems facing the world in the future is the imbalance of men. This isn't a moral statement, but a national security judgment. Scot said to Fr. Roger that he ends his editorial by warning that eugenics is coming to the US through pre-implantation genetic diagnosis in which people can select for certain traits in their children including gender. What happens is that they manufacture human beings in the laboratory then examine the embryos for their genes and discard, i.e. kill or freeze the rest. Couples are flying in from all over the world to do this in the United States because it's already illegal in other countries. This is the pro-choice mentality taken to the extreme, that we should be able to choose everything about our children and if we don't like them we can throw them out like so much wasted food. Pro-lifers have long described the many ways the pro-choice movement hurts individual women as well as the cause of women overall. It's now becoming clear that the pro-choice mentality is disproportionately snuffing out the future of hundreds of millions of women more than the carnage of men, creating a global disparity in sex ratio that leads sober analysts to predict that the surplus of unmarried males in sexually unbalanced societies will hurt women in various other ways: through augmenting the demand for prostitution, kidnapping and female trafficking. When are those who claim to speak for the good of women going to recognize that abortion is bad for women, bad for baby girls, and bad for all of society? Scot said also before the Supreme Court recently was a case that challenged the ministerial exception, a principle in law which allows religious groups to hire and fire based on religious beliefs. Bishop William E. Lori of Bridgeport, Conn., chairman of the U.S. bishops' Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty, called it “a great day for the First Amendment.” In a statement issued by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Bishop Lori said the ruling makes clear “the historical and constitutional importance of keeping internal church affairs off limits to the government — because whoever chooses the minister chooses the message.” Greg said the case doesn't directly affect the other methods of infringement of religious liberty that have been in the news lately, like regulations requiring health insurance plans to cover contraceptives. But the Court did say that religious groups have freedom in employment by saying that government can't mandate how people of faith practice that faith. Had they ruled otherwise, the government could have said the Church must ordain women because the current policy is discriminatory and other similar complaints. This case involved a Michigan Lutheran school teacher who was fired after she threatened to sue the school under a disabilities law. The school said she should have used the Lutheran synod's internal appeals process. Fr. Roger said any Catholic who wants religious freedom needs to sit up and pay attention to the Obama administration's infringements on that freedom. It is no longer just intolerant of us, but is actively trying to shut down our ability to police what we do and follow our internal policies. He noted that this was a unanimous decision, including the four justices appointed by Clinton and Obama who agreed that the administrations efforts in this case were ludicrous. 4th segment: Scot said this Saturday there will be a transitional deacon ordained in the Diocese of Fall River and six men will be ordained at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross at 10am. Fr. Roger said they will be deacons until they are ordained priests. In Boston this year the priestly ordination is the end of June and Fall River's Jason Brilhante will be ordained in early June. He said that it is significant that they are ordained deacons in that they will always remain deacons even after being ordained priests. Also in the Anchor this week is a story about LaVallee's Bakery Distributors in Waltham that provides free bread to the needy. CEO Andy LaVallee said: “We run our company on two real basic values that came out of Pope Benedict's encyclical, ‘Charity in Truth', and that is stewardship is a gift from God and that it's something we're only in possession of, so what we do with it is important,” LaVallee said. “We feel like it's a real moral responsibility as a Catholic to do certain things for the community. So we need to take care of some of the Catholic-based food pantries and charities in the area.” Susan said just the fact that he is aware of and familiar with the encyclical is remarkable. The story notes that as you walk into the facility is that there is a painting of Pope Benedict prominently displayed. they also point out that they don't give away stale bread. “If you go to the St. Francis House in Boston, they have a very small kitchen area but they manage to feed about 1,200 people a day,” he said. “If you walk out the back door of the kitchen, it's adjacent to a well-known five-star hotel. On Thanksgiving Day if you went to this particular hotel you would have seen breads from LaVallee's set up on all the tables from every country around the world. Just next door inside St. Francis House, the homeless were being served the same exact breads. There's a symbol here: we could just as well give St. Francis House our stale bread, but that wouldn't be showing respect and dignity for all people. To me, it's important to give of the same resources and the same products.” Greg said it has struck him and wants to reprint it in the Pilot. He noted a quote at the end of the article: “We've succeeded ever since we embraced these two strong biblical truths: stewardship and servant leadership,” he said. “If you're going to continue to manage your company based on spreadsheets and not developing and helping people around you - your employees, your customers and the community - then you're going to go through life with an accumulation of wealth, but what good is it? The real goodness is what you can do for other people because it's more Christ-like, it's what God did for us.” Fr. Roger said he met him at a Christmas party at a mutual friend's home and they talked about his program and how other businesses are joining him. From there he asked if they would be able to get some of that charity at his parish, St. Anthony of Padua in New Bedford. Greg also pointed out the front-page Pilot story on the Martin Luther King, Jr., Day commemoration at St. Katharine Drexel in Boston and recommended listeners read it.

Today's host(s): Scot Landry Today's guest(s): Fr. Thomas Foley, Episcopal Vicar and Secretary for Pastoral Life and Leadership of the Archdiocese of Boston Today's topics: Priest Profile: Fr. Thomas Foley Summary of today's show: Scot chats with Fr. Thomas Foley who oversees the largest part of the Central Ministries of the Archdiocese as the secretary for pastoral life and leadership. They dicuss the various ways the Archdiocese provides support to clergy and laity and assists parishes in their day-to-day efforts and planning for the future. 1st segment: Scot welcomed everyone to the show. He said today the archdiocese says goodbye to our current vicar general, Fr. Rich Erikson, and tomorrow say hello to Msgr. Robert Deeley, who will become vicar general and moderator of the curia. He will be on the show on September 9. Scot explained that moderator of the curia helps organize the rest of Cardinal Sean's cabinet secretaries and coordinate their efforts. The cabinets include administration, education, faith formation, communications, health services, social services, institutional advancement, Catholic media, and the parish life and leadership. Fr. Foley is an episcopal vicar and he is the only vicar in the cabinet apart from the vicar general. A vicar represents or stands-in for the ministry of the bishop. Some dioceses have more than one vicar general. There is a judicial vicar, who is Fr. Mark O'Connell in Boston. Episcopal vicars are less common and he is the bishop's delegate over a certain area of church life or people. Fr. Foley is the vicar for clergy and parishes. The other episcopal vicar in Boston is Fr. Arthur Coyle who is the Cardinal's representative to the Merrimac region. A vicar has ordinary power, as canon law puts it. The bishop is the ordinary and the vicar can sign certain documents and take certain actions on the Cardinal's behalf. 2nd segment: Scot met Fr. Foley in 2006 at the consistory in Rome at which Cardinal Seán was made a cardinal. At the time he was pastor of St. Ann in Neponset. Fr. Foley was born in Woburn, like many priests of the archdiocese. Cardinal Medeiros called Woburn the land of priests. He was baptized at St. Mary, Winchester, and celebrated his first Mass at Immaculate Conception, Winchester. His first assignment as priest in 1986 was St. Mary and Martha in Lakeville. When he was ordained, he got his assignment and said he'd never heard of Lakeville, which is on the far southern edge of the archdiocese. He was only there for three years. His next assignment was St. Eulalia in Winchester in his hometown where he stayed for five years. It was very busy with 1,500 kids in CCD. Four priests lived in the rectory. In a very unusual move, he was moved to St. Mary in Winchester for four years. He was then offered Immaculate Conception in Winchester, his home parish. He was there for 6-1/2 years until it closed in 2004. Scot asked how they dealt with the closing of the parish. They knew they were very small and that their finances wouldn't work to keep them open. He told the people that the closing affected him as much as them; he had celebrated his first Mass at that altar. From there, he moved to St. Ann in the Neponset section of Dorchester as pastor. He was there only four years before Cardinal Sean asked him to come to the new assignment. Scot said Cardinal Sean might have looked to Fr. Foley because of his role in the formation of Pope John Paul II Catholic Academy, which gathered together 7 Catholics into one. Fr. Foley said in Dorchester, people even today identify themselves by what parish they come from, so merging the schools was very difficult. At the time, St. Ann was the largest school, but the budget was twice revenue very year and he and the other pastors recognized that it was impossible to make it on their own. Scot said it wasn't easy but in the end it achieved what they hoped, which was the preservation of Catholic education in Dorchester. Fr. Foley said he wasn't at first convinced about the merger of schools, but he was invited to a meeting in Brighton with the people behind the 2010 Initiative for Catholic education which gave him a lot to think about. After thinking long and hard, praying about it, and talking to his people, he became convinced. He stayed on the board of JPII academy for about a year after he moved to the Pastoral Center. He began his new assignment in June 2008 right as construction began on the new school and went back at the beginning of the school year for the opening. He missed St. Ann and not being a part of the new academy, but he was impressed by the excitement of the kids and parents in their new school. 3rd segment: Fr. Foley actually worked for a month in Brighton before the move to the Pastoral Center in Braintree. His position in the secretariate was created new by Cardinal Sean as part of a reorganization of the Archdiocese to strengthen services provided to clergy and parishes and focus on evangelization and faith formation. Among the offices are Clergy Personnel, which gives priests and deacons their assignments. Fr. Tom said it's a strategic and important part of their service. They have a personnel board that meets to look at parishes that need a priest, look at available priest, and look at the surrounding parishes to make recommendations. They have regular meetings with Cardinal Sean to update him on the latest information and changes. Fr. Michael Medas is the head of that office. Scot said Clergy Personnel also provides pastoral care for priests. It includes direct support for priests who have immediate needs, one-on-one care they provide. The Cardinal often wants to get personally involved as well when there is a priest in need, such as with a death in the family. The same with the vicar general's office. His secretariate helps with the ongoing formation of priests, including preparing parochial vicars to be pastors, ongoing education and formation, and more. Fr. Tom recently added Sr. Lucille to his staff to work with Fr. Medas in planning ongoing formation programs, workshops, conferences, the annual convocation, and retreats. There are also three or four priests per year who go on sabbatical, such as at the Pontifical North American College in Rome. Officially, a priest takes a sabbatical every 10 years, but in practice few of them ask for sabbatical. They don't leave their parishes. The Vocations Office sponsors vocations to the priesthood as well as promoting the other vocations in the Church. They are bringing in many seminarians to study for the Archdiocese. There are about 60 seminarians for the Archdiocese right now. There's another class of permanent deacons about to be ordained in September. The Office of Permanent Deacons is concerned with their formation and ongoing care. The Office of Pastoral Planning works with many in the parishes including pastoral associates in the parishes as part of the planning effort to strengthen parishes. Scot said the most important initiative in the Archdiocese over the next 5 years is pastoral planning for a stronger archdiocese given changing resources in the future. There is a lot of coordination among different departments and offices on a variety of committees that involve pastoral planning to get a wide perspective on the whole. 4th segment: It's time to announce the winner of the weekly WQOM Benefactor Raffle. Our prize this week is the Let's Talk Series of books for teens by Ken Ogorek and Once Upon a Time Rosary Activity Set for children by Holy Cross Family Ministries This week's winner is Anna Malinauskas from Waltham, MA. Congratulations Anna! If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you'll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM's weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We'll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 5th segment: Fr. Foley also oversees the the care and support of senior priests. Fr. FOley serves on the board of Regina Cleri, which he says is the finest home for senior priests in the country and many dioceses don't even have a residence for senior priests. It was founded by Cardinal Cushing who had the foresight of building Regina Cleri when the West End was demolished for urban renewal. About 50 priests live at Regina Cleri, mostly those who are older and need more care, for whom living in a rectory is not practical. They have a good dignified life and a close community. Some senior priests also live in their own homes as well. The last office is Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs. Ecumenical is among other Christian churches and interreligious is relations with Jewish and Muslim groups. It was founded by Cardinal Cushing and the office is overseen by two priests who are also pastors.

**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Susan Abbott **Today's guest(s):** Fr. Roger Landry, executive editor of The Anchor, the newspaper of the Fall River diocese; and Gregory Tracy, managing editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston archdiocese * [The Anchor](http://www.anchornews.org) * [The Pilot](http://www.pilotcatholicnews.com) * Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot's and The Anchor's websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. **Today's topics:** Cardinal Seán's Pastoral Letter on Evangelization, tornado in Springfield, new cause of canonization in Boston, US bishops on assisted suicide **A summary of today's show:**  **1st segment:** Scot welcomes Susan back to show. Susan said she's just back from the Sacred Hearts Retreat House in Wareham where she met with New England regional diocesan catechetical directors in a day of reflection. Scot said the Pastoral Center has been busy today because the convocation of the archdiocese's priests has been taking place nearby at Lombardo's in Randolph. Fr. James Moroney addressed them on the changes to the Roman Missal that are coming this Advent. Videos of recent workshops on the changes coming  to the Liturgy are available on the archdiocese's website. * [The New Roman Missal at BostonCatholic.org](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/newromanmissal.aspx) **2nd segment:** Scot begins by talking about the Cardinal's new pastoral letter called "The New Pentecost." He asked Fr. Landry to explain pastoral letters. It is meant to help Catholics to approach an issue from the perspective of the Catholic faith. It's a study by the author on a theme that he believes those to whom he's writing it need to react and respond to. This pastoral letter is a response of Cardinal Seán to starting in 1992, Pope John Paul II began calling for a New Evangelization of the Americas on the 500th anniversary of the discovery by European Christians. This calling to a new evangelization is meant to address those 83% of Catholics who don't regularly go to Mass very Sunday as well as those of the other 17% who have not let the Gospel fully impact their lives. Scot asked Gregory what he makes of the Cardinal releasing the document on Pentecost and linking evangelization to Pentecost. The Holy Spirit overshadowed the apostles, converting them from cowering in fear and calling them to go out and proclaim the Good News. We're also called to proclaim the Good News like the apostles did. * [Cardinal Seán's Pastoral Letter on Evangelization](http://www.BostonCatholic.org/Pastoral Letter) (Will be available on Friday, June 10) * ["Church must find more effective ways to evangelize, says pope" CNS, 5/31/11](http://www.catholicnews.com/data/briefs/cns/20110531.htm) Susan said that she's this letter as being right up her alley in terms of using in catechesis, formation and religious education and see hiow it's applicable to her ministry. Scot said we're called to evangelize and spread the word to others. He asked Fr. Roger how important it is to make people understand this isn't just the mission of the priests or professional lay ecclesial ministers. Fr. Roger said if we're not bursting forth with the desire to share the Good News with others, we have to wonder if we've fully receive the Gospel and recognize what great news it is. Pope John Paul II said in the encyclical [Mission of the Redeemer](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_07121990_redemptoris-missio_en.html) said 15 times that the work of evangelization is the work of all the disciples of the Lord. Jesus' two great verbs are to "come" to Him, but also to "go" out into the world. Scot said there are 11 sections to the Cardinal's letter. The first one states that Pentecost is the beginning of Evangelization. Then he talks about Catholics Come Home, evangelization as the start of each Catholic's ongoing conversion; evangelization as the primary mission of the Church; the meaning of evangelization; parishes as centers of evangelization; pastoral planning & evangelization; the new Roman Missal as an opportunity for evangelization; new Church movements and communities; immediate steps we can take to evangelize; and Blessed John Paul's oft-stated desire that all may know Jesus. **3rd segment:** Scot recalled the tornadoes in the Springfield diocese last week, the four deaths and more than 200 injuries. The diocese was hit very hard as well. Susan's counterpart, Sister Paul Robelard, said it was just terrifying. The chancery building wasn't damaged, but St. Michael's Resident, a home for retired priests and religious, was damaged. The chapel was ripped out of the middle of the building. The recently restored cathedral high school was also severely damaged. * [Massachusetts diocese seeks prayers, assistance during tornado recovery," The Pilot/CNS, 6/8/11](http://www.pilotcatholicnews.com/article.asp?ID=13429) There are many people still without homes and it will be a long time getting back on their feet. Scot said in the weeks prior to that was the tornado in Joplin, Missouri. His children, seeing the news, were very fearful and he assured them that we don't get tornadoes in Massachusetts, and now this happens. It left us all feeling vulnerable. Scot asked Gregory's take as a journalist. Gregory said as terrible as the devastation as the Missouri was, it didn't feel so close to home, but many of us know people in Springfield, and especially with those he works with in the diocese there. As important as reporting what happened is reporting the efforts that the diocese is making to assist those in need. Fr. Roger said people should pray. Bishop McDonnell has asked for prayers those who died in the storm, those who lost homes, those who were injured. These are our neighbors in both a literal sense and in a Gospel sense, so we could assist with monetary donations. But we also need to recall that our lives are a gift of God. It's easy to go about our lives and not recall that this could happen to us at any time. We need to be grateful to the Lord for every day he gives us. We need to respond, not with fear, but with gratitude and trust. Also, be ready, because at any time our death could come. Are we ready to face the Lord in our personal judgment? Bishop McDonnell said Catholic Charities is looking for help with immediate needs for household items, toiletries, baby supplies, and monetary donations. * ["Cause of canonization opens for Opus Dei priest," The Pilot, 6/7/11](http://www.pilotcatholicnews.com/article.asp?ID=13423) On June 2 at the Pastoral Center was the opening of the cause of canonization for Fr. Joseph Muzquiz, a priest of Opus Dei, who brought the movement to the United States. Fr. Roger knows Fr. Dave Kavanaugh, the promoter of the cause and priest of OPus Dei. He said Fr. Kavanaugh told him that Fr. Muzquiz was one of the first three Opus Dei priests ordained in Spain the 1940s. St. Josemaria Escriva had asked Fr. Muzquiz to bring Opus Dei to the US. They first went to Chicago and then came to Boston, coming here literally with nothing, trusting in God. Eventually, the movement has flowered in the United States with many beautiful facilities, chapels, and retreat centers. Fr. Muzquiz was known for his incredible peace and heroic virtue. He lived the real message of Opus Dei, to become holy in the midst of your ordinary activities. You don't have to be a martyr or travel to the end of the earth. He died on June 1, 1983.  In order to be canonized, you need two miracles, so they have printed up holy cards with prayers so that people can pray for their own needs and those they love. At this stage, he is called Servant of God and they will now investigate whether he lived the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love to a heroic degree.  Gregory said this is the first cause that he has experience with that has opened in Boston. The usual practice is that the cause opens in the diocese where the person died. He said though there were about 150 people present, many of whom knew Muzquiz personally, it was a highly canonical proceeding, with the reading of testimony and the signing of documents. There was a great sense of solemnity and it showed that the process of canonization is not just superfluous, but is very rigorous and much attention to detail is paid. Susan said she's only familiar with the archdiocese's connection to the cause for Blessed John Henry Newman, but that was an investigation of a miracle that occurred here, not the opening of the the cause and investigation. Scot said it was interesting to know about the formal roles in the process: the bishop of the diocese, the postulator of the cause (Fr. Kavanaugh), the episcopal delegate (Bishop Allué), the judicial vicar (Fr. Mark O'Connell), the promoter of justice (Fr. Rodney Kopp), and notaries (Fr. Michael Medas and Fr. Dan Harrington). Now the investigation will take testimony from many people and send that along with many other items of documentation to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints at the Vatican for consideration. They will investigate any possible miracle and perhaps make a recommendation to the Holy Father for beatification. Fr. Roger said those looking for miracles are encouraged to go to St. Joseph Cemetery in West Roxbury to pray at the tomb of Fr. Muzquiz for that miracle. **4th segment:** In the Pilot this week is an obituary for Fr. Thomas Keane, former Air Foorce chaplain and Quincy pastor. In The Anchor this week are the obituaries of Fr. Luis Cardoso and Msgr. Edmund Levesque. Msgr Levesque is Fr. Roger's predecessor at St. Anthony's in New Bedford. When Fr. Levesque arrived in the parish in 1990, he decided to renovate the church, which is a massive church. Because he had no money, he did it himself, erecting scaffolding and washing and painting the ceilings, then sanding and repainting the pews. He started to raise money for the school by cooking the dinner at Bingo every week. He died at he was going up the steps of a church to celebrate Mass. Fr. Luis Cardoso was an immigrant from the Azores and spent his whole priesthood in Fall River ministering to Portuguese Catholics.  Also this week, both dioceses celebrated the 25th anniversaries of a number of priests. The Boston priests celebrated Mass together at the Pastoral Center on Wednesday. * List of Archdiocese of Boston priests celebrating their Silver Jubilee: * Fr. Russell Best, St. Patrick, Boston * Fr. James Butler, Senior Priest * Fr. Richard Cannon, St. John the Baptist, Quincy * Fr. Thomas Foley, Episcopal Vicar and Secretary for Parish Life and Leadership * Fr. David Michael, St. Joseph, Needham * Fr. William Minigan, St. Joseph, Malden * Fr. Gabriel Lormeus, St. Mary, Lynn * Fr. Janusz Chmielecki, OFM Conv., Our Lady of Czestochowa, Boston * Fr. Gerard McKeon, SJ, Boston College High School * Fr. Joseph O'Keefe, SJ, St. Mary Hall, Boston College * Fr. Jose Ruisanchez, Opus Dei * Fr. Kevin Sepe, St. Francis of Assisi, Braintree * Fr. Mark Mahoney, St. Rose of Lima, Topsfield * Fr. Albert Faretra, St. Joseph, Belmont * Fr. James Doran, OMV, St. Joseph Retreat House, Milton * List of Diocese of Fall River priests celebrating their Silver Jubilee: * Fr. David Andrade * Fr. Freddie Babiczuk, Jr. * Fr. Thomas Frechette * Fr. Maurice Gauvin Jr. * Fr. Timothy P. Reis Susan said she has worked closely with Fr. Foley and Fr. Mahoney in the central ministries and has worked with many of the other priests as well. Moving on to other news, Fr. Roger said the US bishops when they meet in Seattle next week will be discussing assisted suicide and will be giving us a document on it. In Massachusetts, there is a new movement to promote assisted suicide. It comes as Dr. Jack Kevorkian, advocate of assisted suicide and antagonist of the culture of life, has recently died. He said this will be short enough for most people to read and pass along. * ["Bishops' document on assisted suicide will be first by full conference," CNS, 6/2/11](http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1102179.htm) * ["Assisted-suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian dies at age 83," The Pilot/CNS, 6/8/11](http://www.pilotcatholicnews.com/article.asp?ID=13425) Gregory said The Pilot will have an article about Fr. Frank Pavone's recent visit to Hingham and will summarize his talks on the pro-life cause. Also, Fr. Tad Pacholczyk writes this week on the topic of brain death and how to approach the issue from a Catholic perspective. Susan said she's interested in the article in The Pilot on the workshop that was recently held in North Andover on the changes to the Roman Missal.  Scot points out the article in the Pilot on the status of the archdiocese's pastoral planning office. He said Msgr. Will Fay was on The Good Catholic Life yesterday to clarify some of the misreporting on pastoral planning in the media recently. The article has direct quotes from Fr. David Couterier from the archdiocese's pastoral planning office that echo Msgr. Fay's comments yesterday.