Pope Benedict XVI ’s Encyclical “Caritas In Veritate”

 

http://www.ewtn.com/library/encyc/B16caritas.htm

Paragraph 23 of “Living the Gospel of Life” by the USCCB

 Paragraph 23 of the 1998 statement, “Living the Gospel of Life“, by the USCCB:

As we stressed in our 1995 statement Political Responsibility: “The application of Gospel values to real situations is an essential work of the Christian community.” Adopting a consistent ethic of life, the Catholic Church promotes a broad spectrum of issues “seeking to protect human life and promote human dignity from the inception of life to its final moment.” Opposition to abortion and euthanasia does not excuse indifference to those who suffer from poverty, violence and injustice. Any politics of human life must work to resist the violence of war and the scandal of capital punishment. Any politics of human dignity must seriously address issues of racism, poverty, hunger, employment, education, housing, and health care. Therefore, Catholics should eagerly involve themselves as advocates for the weak and marginalized in all these areas. Catholic public officials are obliged to address each of these issues as they seek to build consistent policies which promote respect for the human person at all stages of life. But being ‘right’ in such matters can never excuse a wrong choice regarding direct attacks on innocent human life. Indeed, the failure to protect and defend life in its most vulnerable stages renders suspect any claims to the ‘rightness’ of positions in other matters affecting the poorest and least powerful of the human community. If we understand the human person as the “temple of the Holy Spirit” — the living house of God — then these latter issues fall logically into place as the crossbeams and walls of that house. All direct attacks on innocent human life, such as abortion and euthanasia, strike at the house’s foundation. These directly and immediately violate the human person’s most fundamental right — the right to life. Neglect of these issues is the equivalent of building our house on sand. Such attacks cannot help but lull the social conscience in ways ultimately destructive of other human rights. As Pope John Paul II reminds us, the command never to kill establishes a minimum which we must respect and from which we must start out “in order to say ‘yes’ over and over again, a ‘yes’ which will gradually embrace the entire horizon of the good” (“Evangelium Vitae“, 75).

“Render Unto Caesar”

Sept 8, 2008 – Archbishop Charles Chaput’s new book “Render Unto Caesar” has risen to No. 27 on the New York Time’s “Non-Fiction Best Seller List.” Additionally, the Sept. 7 Denver Post reported that it now ranks No. 10 in local non-fiction best sellers. To purchase a copy, visit the book’s Web site at www.archden.org/RenderUntoCaesar/.

Respect for Unborn Human Life: The Church’s Constant Teaching

You can read the Church’s constant teaching on abortion at: http://www.usccb.org/prolife/constantchurchteaching.shtml

Responses to Catholic Politicians on Abortion

Read “Responses to Catholic Politicians on Abortion” at: http://www.ewtn.com/media/abortion/responses.asp

Cardinal DiNardo speaks about the Year of St. Paul

June 27, 2008

A Shepherd’s Message

By Daniel Cardinal DiNardo

On June 28, the Holy Father will inaugurate a “Year of St. Paul” to commemorate the 2000 anniversary of his birth.  The great persecutor of the early Church was to become one of her greatest teachers and apostles.  The Risen Christ encountered Saul on the road to Damascus, an event recorded both in the Acts of the Apostles and by the great apostle himself.  Saul was “blind” to the Lord and His Church, but the blazing light of the Crucified and Risen One truly blinded Saul with its brilliance.  His whole life, like his name, was changed.  Saul became Paul.  The blind one began to see.  The direct encounter with Jesus and the subsequent baptism led Paul to become the bold teacher and witness we know about from his many Letters.  Paul instantaneously “saw” that he was called to be an apostle, and not by any human appointment.  He would subsequently have to fight for his calling all his days.  He had to face other apostles and defend himself.  He was fearless, even with St. Peter, yet he also respected the Prince of the Apostles and, as he says in his Letter to the Galatians, went to see Ciphers (Peter) to lay out the Gospel he preached in order to receive that mark of approval which Peter exercised in the early Church.

St. Paul is a profound and sometimes difficult writer; from the beginning of the Church his writings were received as the Word of God.  His insights have been extraordinarily influential in the history of the Catholic Church.  His own experience of grace set the tone for his awesome recognition of the grace of God the Father in Jesus Christ.  His characteristic teaching of our justification by faith that bears fruit in love is even now a central consideration in our understanding of the supernatural gift of faith.  His proclamation of God’s love that shines most through the Crucified Lord Jesus is a spirituality that no Catholic Christian can evade or ignore.  His beautiful analysis of the work of the Holy Spirit in his Letter to the Romans, Chapter 8, is unsurpassed.  He also has given us an essential understanding of the Church as the Body of Christ, as the Temple of God where both Head (Christ) and members (u) form such a unity that it can be said that the Church is Christ’s presence alive in the world.  He was bold in correcting errors in both teaching and in moral life.  Uncompromising with himself, he became all things to all men, as he once wrote.  His lack of self-pity amidst so many persecutions and misunderstandings is a tribute to the sheer attachment to Jesus that was his whole life.  His example is particularly important today when so many Christians compromise the Gospel because it is difficult or seems less relevant than the opinions of the elite and the media.

The Year of St. Paul occurs also this year as an inspiration for the forthcoming Synod of Bishops to be held in October in Rome.  I have been honored by being elected as one of the four American delegates to the Synod.  The theme this year is: “The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church.”  The Synod will particularly give attention to the Scriptures and their essential role in the catechesis formation and spirituality of the Church.  I believe that St. Paul will be our great heavenly Patron during the discussion, deliberation and recommendations that the Bishops of the Synod will provide for the Holy Father in his universal shepherding ministry in the Church as the Successor of St. Peter.

We will be celebrating the Year of St. Paul and the life-giving presence of the Scriptures, particularly in catechesis, in this local Church of Galveston–Houston in the coming months.  I ask of all our priests, deacons, religious and faithful to renew or revivify your love of God’s Word.  If the Letters of St. Paul seem too difficult, remember that his preaching was always and everywhere a proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Pick up one of the four Gospels and begin a slow and day by day reading of one of these masterpieces.  Pray about what you read.  Spend a year with St. Matthew, or St. Mark, Saint Luke or Saint John and become enthused again for the power of the Risen Jesus who shines through every page.  Happy Reading!

Resources for the Year of Saint Paul

Resources for the Year of Saint Paul can be found at: http://www.usccb.org/liturgy/stpaul/index.shtml.

Bishop Ricard speaks about faith

“Faith is not simply a system of belief. It is more than assenting to a set of principles. Our faith is dynamic; it is active. Our faith is alive, and must be allowed to grow and expand throughout our entire lives. We must nurture it throughout our lives.” (Bishop John H. Ricard of the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee, speaks at the diocese’s 30th anniversary Mass, at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart-Pensacola, Florida-2005)

Apostolic Journey to the United States of the Holy Father-2008

Read Pope Benedict 16’s speeches at: http://www.ewtn.com/library/PAPALDOC/b16usjrnindx.HTM.

 

God expects us to carry our cross-Bishop John H. Ricard (2008 Palm Sunday)

“We may not feel compelled to literally carry a cross along a busy highway, but God expects us to carry our crosses upon the highways of our lives. The Christian is one who embraces the cross, knowing God will ultimately deliver us from suffering and death.” (A quote from Bishop John H. Ricard’s 2008 Palm Sunday Homily)