My Big Fat Greek Wedding

Tonight we headed to a Royals game. Yes, they lost, but guess who was on the big screen?!?! Yes that is right, you one and only. Many of you know my thoughts on baseball and I will truly be sad when the season is over, but there is always April!

But for the real reason to the post, My Big Fat Greek Wedding. We wanted to do something after the game, so we decided to have people come over and watch a movie. Let's me honest, you have seen the movie. There is a this young women who does not care much about her looks and works for her father day in and day out. Until she decides she wants to do something with her life. She goes back to school and ends up falling in love, getting married and moves right next to her parents with her new family.

However have you really ever stopped to think about the messages in the middle of the movie. She only starts caring about her personal appearance because of a man. And the reason she went to college is because she deceives her father into thinking it was his idea. Is the message we are teaching people, find a man so you can find fulfillment and if along the way you need to deceive people to get there, that is okay.

No, my friend. I know this might be the extreme, but think about it. I strive to find my fulfillment in Christ and I pray you will do the same. Don't fall into what the media is telling you. Next time you want to make a change in your life, ask God. Don't trust your own instincts unless you have taken them to prayer. Trust me on that!!

Our Moral Responsibility... Joint Pastoral Letter

Our Moral Responsibility as Catholic Citizens
Joint Pastoral Letter – September 8, 2008
Most Reverend Joseph F. Naumann, Archbishop of Kansas City in Kansas
Most Reverend Robert W. Finn, Bishop of Kansas City-St. Joseph

Dear Friends in Christ,

With the approaching general election this November, we believe this to be an important moment for us to address together the responsibility of Catholics to be well informed and well formed voters.

Except for the election of our next President, the people of Northwestern Missouri and Northeastern Kansas will be choosing different candidates for different offices in our two dioceses. Yet the fundamental moral principles that should guide our choices as Catholic voters are the same.

For generations it has been the determination of Catholic Bishops not to endorse political candidates or parties. This approach was initiated by Archbishop John Carroll – the very first Catholic Bishop serving in the United States. It was long before there was an Internal Revenue Service Code, and had nothing to do with a desire to preserve tax-exempt status. Rather the Church in the United States realized early on that it must not tether the credibility of the Church to the uncertain future actions or statements of a particular politician or party. This understanding of the Church’s proper role in society was affirmed in the Second Vatican Council’s Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern Word: “The Church, by reason of her role and competence, is not identified with any political community nor bound by its ties to any political system. It is at once the sign and the safeguard of the transcendental dimension of the human person.”(Gaudium et Spes n.76)

A Right to Speak Out on Issues

At the same time, it is important to note that the Catholic Church in the United States has always cherished its right to speak to the moral issues confronting our nation. The Church has understood its responsibility in a democratic society to do its best to form properly the consciences of her members. In continuity with the long history of the efforts of American Bishops to assist Catholics with the proper formation of their consciences, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) this past November issued a statement: Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship. In that document our brother bishops took care to note: “This statement is intended to reflect and complement, not substitute for, the ongoing teachings of bishops in our own dioceses and states.”

It is in this context that we offer the following reflections to assist the Catholic people of Northwestern Missouri and Northeastern Kansas in forming their consciences in preparation for casting their votes this November.

Many Issues: Prudential Judgments

Every Catholic should be concerned about a wide range of issues. We believe in a consistent ethic that evaluates every issue through the prism of its impact on the life and dignity of the human person. Catholics should care about public policies that:
a) promote a just and lasting peace in the world,
b) protect our nation from terrorism and other security threats,
c) welcome and uphold the rights of immigrants,
d) enable health care to be accessible and affordable,
e) manifest a special concern for the poor by attending to their immediate needs and assisting them to gain economic independence,
f) protect the rights of parents to be the primary educators of their children,
g) create business and employment opportunities making it possible for individuals to be able to provide for their own material needs and the needs of their families,
h) reform the criminal justice system by providing better for the needs of the victims of crimes, protecting the innocent, administering justice fairly, striving to rehabilitate inmates, and eliminating the death penalty,
i) foster a proper stewardship of the earth that God has entrusted to our care.

This is by no means an exhaustive list.

While the above issues, as well as many others, have important moral dimensions, Catholics may and do disagree about the most effective public policies for responding to them. How these issues are best addressed and what particular candidates are best equipped to address them requires prudential judgments – defined as circumstances in which people can ethically reach different conclusions. Catholics have an obligation to study, reflect and pray over the relative merits of the different policy approaches proposed by candidates. Catholics have a special responsibility to be well informed regarding the guidance given by the Church pertaining to the moral dimensions of these matters. In the end, Catholics in good conscience can disagree in their judgments about many aspects of the best policies and the most effective candidates.

The Priority of Rejecting Intrinsic Evil

There are, however, some issues that always involve doing evil, such as legalized abortion, the promotion of same-sex unions and ‘marriages,’ repression of religious liberty, as well as public policies permitting euthanasia, racial discrimination or destructive human embryonic stem cell research. A properly formed conscience must give such issues priority even over other matters with important moral dimensions. To vote for a candidate who supports these intrinsic evils because he or she supports these evils is to participate in a grave moral evil. It can never be justified.

Even if we understand the moral dimensions of the full array of social issues and have correctly prioritized those involving intrinsic evils, we still must make prudential judgments in the selection of candidates. In an ideal situation, we may have a choice between two candidates who both oppose public policies that involve intrinsic evils. In such a case, we need to study their approach on all the other issues that involve the promotion of the dignity of the human person and prayerfully choose the best individual.

Limiting Grave Evil

In another circumstance, we may be confronted with a voting choice between two candidates who support abortion, though one may favor some limitations on it, or he or she may oppose public funding for abortion. In such cases, the appropriate judgment would be to select the candidate whose policies regarding this grave evil will do less harm. We have a responsibility to limit evil if it is not possible at the moment to eradicate it completely.

The same principle would be compelling to a conscientious voter who was confronted with two candidates who both supported same-sex unions, but one opposed abortion and destructive embryonic research while the other was permissive in these regards. The voter, who himself or herself opposed these policies, would have insufficient moral justification voting for the more permissive candidate. However, he or she might justify resorting to a write-in vote or abstaining from voting at all in this case, because of a conscientious objection.

In 2004 a group of United States Bishops, acting on behalf of the USCCB and requesting counsel about the responsibilities of Catholic politicians and voters, received a memo from the office of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI, which stated: “A Catholic would be guilty of formal cooperation in evil, and so unworthy to present himself for Holy Communion, if he were to deliberately vote for a candidate precisely because of the candidate’s permissive stand on abortion and/or euthanasia. When a Catholic does not share a candidate’s stand in favor of abortion and/or euthanasia, but votes for that candidate for other reasons, it is considered remote material cooperation, which can be permitted in the presence of proportionate reasons.”

Could a Catholic in good conscience vote for a candidate who supports legalized abortion when there is a choice of another candidate who does not support abortion or any other intrinsically evil policy? Could a voter’s preference for the candidate’s positions on the pursuit of peace, economic policies benefiting the poor, support for universal health care, a more just immigration policy, etc. overcome a candidate’s support for legalized abortion? In such a case, the Catholic voter must ask and answer the question: What could possibly be a proportionate reason for the more than 45 million children killed by abortion in the past 35 years? Personally, we cannot conceive of such a proportionate reason.

Time for Catholics to Exercise Moral Leadership

The number of Catholics and the percentage of Catholics in the United States have never been greater. There has never been a moment in our nation’s history when more Catholics served in elective office, presided in our courts or held other positions of power and authority. It would be wrong for us to use our numbers and influence to try to compel others to accept our religious and theological beliefs. However, it would be equally wrong for us to fail to be engaged in the greatest human rights struggle of our time, namely the need to protect the right to life of the weakest and most vulnerable.

We need committed Catholics in both major political parties to insist upon respect for the values they share with so many other people of faith and good will regarding the protection of the sanctity of human life, the upholding of the institution of marriage between a man and a woman as the foundation of family life, as well as the protection of religious liberty and conscience rights. It is particularly disturbing to witness the spectacle of Catholics in public life vocally upset with the Church for teaching what it has always taught on these moral issues for 2,000 years, but silent in objecting to the embrace, by either political party, of the cultural trends of the past few decades that are totally inconsistent with our nation’s history of defending the weakest and most vulnerable.

Thank you for taking time to consider these reflections on applying the moral principles that must guide our choices as voters. We are called to be faithful Catholics and loyal Americans. In fact, we can only be good citizens if we allow ourselves to be informed by the unchanging moral principles of our Catholic faith.

No Show

I have had one of those weeks, where I wake up and I have an agenda and feel capable to accomplish all on my sticky note, but the Lord throws me a curve ball.

Last night, I had my second Bible study of the year. I co-lead one earlier in the evening with a student leader until she feels confident to go ahead and begin as a facilitator and I am starting up a new cross-country/volleyball team Bible study. We had made our rounds made phone calls two days beforehand, and day off, written on girls facebook walls and even done some e-mailing, but no one showed up. We even saw three of the girls walking by saying they had homework to go do and one who was going on a walk with a boy. These four girls will come soon, I have the faith.

However the Lord blesses those that are patient. We sat and exchanges authentic stories of our lives and were witnesses to many students walking by who saw us praying for the girls that did not attend study.

I decided to start a second study an hour and half after the first one. Coming into the night, I was certain that no one would attend, but the Lord truly blesses those that are patient. I was stood up by a sophomore at a coffee shop on Friday, but I still had high hopes that she will come around. I decided to text message this student to see if she was coming because if not it would be another no show Bible study on the same night. She texted back very quickly and within five minutes she was down in the lobby with her New American Bible on hand and ready to go. So for the next 45 minutes we talked about Matthew 7 and the foundation of rock and sand. She openned up that night and admitted so many things she wanted to do better at with her Catholic faith. She promised to bring more friends next week and think of a "sand" item in her life that she is placing as a foundation in her life instea of God and making steps to make it disappear.

The Lords blesses those that are patient! It is you, not I.

Our Lady of Sorrows, Pray for us.

"I sit here in silence on the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows wondering how fast the time always flies. I remember three years ago I felt complete guilt for being alive... My friends who had the gifts to inspire were taken by our Mother. Such a depressing story, I know, but that's life." The Gospel of Matthew chapter 7 says it's so beautifully, storms will come.

"It came to be today in prayer that we all have special graces and gifts allotted to us by our Lord. It is by these gifts we are able to build up the Church." We each, yes you, has a gift to do something beautiful today. God has given you the opportunity and unique opportunity for only you to do today. Only you.

So let's LIVE. Live like you don't know what will happen next. Storms will come by friend. Big or small, storms will come. But it's the foundation that will matter when they do.

JFA: Yes, I participated.

During my first FOCUS Staff Training, an organization came to teach the FOCUS staff members on how to have healthy conversations about abortion. They are called Justice for All, in short, JFA. I didn't feel called to go around the streets of Madison, WI to ask citizens their thoughts on abortion, so took the afternoon for prayer and personal reflection.

However, it was brought to my attention two weeks ago that they will be showing their exhibit at KU (University of Kansas) and we will be attending the training session once more, but this time I will participate. I was a little hesitate at first. Thinking to myself, who am I to go out and talk to my peers about abortion. But again lives are being lost each and every day.

Needless to say ther was a young man there from the early beginning who had a sign. He was actively protesting against the exhibit and screaming things here and there. As trained individuals, some would try to have some sort of conversation, but it was useless. I myself, tried to prove a point to this young women on the issue of dependency of the child to the mother.

I began a conversation with a young women, "Let's say you are the only one near the swimming pool and a three-year jumps, but cannot swim and needs you to save him/her. Wouldn't you say that this three-year old is dependent on solely you to save his/her life?" "Yes, but I would let the child die," said this young women. I was in shock and couldn't believe this women wouldn't save a child. Just to prove her point that a baby is dependent on a mother. The conversation ended and I said a prayer for this women.

As the hours passed and had tried to have conversations will students passing by, it was time to start again. I knew it coudldn't be any worse than the lady who would let a child die, so I asked the young man who had been protesting all day. "I said, hey why did you write that on the board." He continued on and I listened. I listen for the next 30 to 40 minutes talk about his life. At the end, I am certain I didn't change his view point on anything, but he did say something to me that I will always remember, "Thank you for listening, you are the best pro-lifer, I have ever met."

I have never considered myself so one of many words or huge advocate of this or that, I just live my self in the way I see the Lord finds fit. My advice, don't try to do change people, but try to listen and be the sincere heart they have been waiting for. I pray this young man daily, I ask you to do the same as well.