A Letter of Farewell from Sister Mavis

On August 2004, as I was helping Srs. Fatima and Nina prepare for their first vows, and Srs. Chhanda and Moyna transition into their second year of novitiate, my Congregation, the Sisters of Our Lady of Sorrows, was preparing to open the very first community in the diocese of Lafayette. Needless to say, it was a busy time for us! Now, six years later, I find myself busy again as I prepare to move “up north” once again.

I am very grateful to Fr. Chester and to you, the people of Our Lady of Wisdom – parishioners, students, staff – for having welcomed me (and our sisters) as you have. You have been loving, kind, supportive, generous, and simply fun to be with – and I thank you for that. I cherish all that I’ve been able to experience and to accomplish in these past 6 years: I was part of the first OLS community to ever live in the diocese of Lafayette; I completed my mandate as novice director for our community; I earned a degree from UL Lafayette and began working towards being a licensed counselor; I became a certified Spiritual Director; I was here for the birth of my little niece (I was in Shreveport, Rome or Bangladesh when the other eight came into this world), and I was part of the best homecoming float-making crew ever!!!

Part of religious life is going where we are asked to go, and doing what the Congregation needs - and while it saddens me to leave this place, faith and experience tell me that “all will be well”. Know that I will carry you and the memories of this beautiful place in my heart as I go forward to live this new adventure the Lord has prepared for me. I ask that you remember me in your prayers and I assure you that I will keep you in my daily prayer.

May Our Lady of Sorrows and Blessed Elisabetta Renzi be with you,

and may our Lord bless each of you with His peace.

Love,

Sr. Mavis

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We Love you Sister Mavis!
This Sunday after the 11am Mass we will be having a small pot luck reception to say our goodbyes to Sister Mavis. Please come and if you can bring a dessert or a side to share (for about 20 ppl).

Fire On The Earth: God’s New Creation and the Meaning of Our Lives

An amazing read- by the one and only.....
Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap.

One of my favorite Christian authors, writing about the Christianity of his day, said that popular faith is “like a farmer who needs a horse for his fields; he leaves the fiery stallion on one side, and buys the tame, broken-in horse. This is just the way men have tamed for themselves a usable Christianity, and it is only a matter of time and honest thought before they lose interest in their creation and get rid of it.”

The man who wrote those words was Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the great German Lutheran theologian. For Bonhoeffer, Scripture was not an academic discipline, or a personal hobby, or a collection of useful wisdom. It was the living Word of God, the furnace that powered his life. And it had a cost. It led him to oppose National Socialism, then to work against Adolf Hitler, then to his arrest, and finally to his execution.

There’s nothing tepid or routine about a real encounter with Sacred Scripture. In his Narnia tales, C.S. Lewis warned that Aslan is a good lion, but he is not a “tame” lion. Likewise, God’s Word is profoundly good, but it is never “tame.” Augustine thought Christian Scripture was vulgar, inelegant, and shallow—until he heard it preached by St. Ambrose; then it grabbed him by the soul, and turned his world and his life inside out. When Jesus said “I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled” (Lk 12:49) he spoke not as an interesting moral counselor, but as the restless, incarnate Word of God, the Scriptures in flesh and blood, on fire with his Father’s mission of salvation.

Scripture is passionate; it’s a love story, and it can only be absorbed by giving it everything we have: our mind, our heart and our will. It’s the one story that really matters; the story of God’s love for humanity. And like every great story, it has a structure. Talking about that structure and its meaning is my purpose here today. (continue reading)



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Why the Catholic Church teaches that using artificial contraception is immoral...

So, if you've ever had questions about why the Church teaches what she does about contraception (and even if you never did)...here is a very good article written by Dr. Janet Smith. This weekend marks the 42nd anniversary of Pope Paul VI's prophetic encyclical Humanae Vitae (On Human Life). This is a topic that, in my opinion, is bigger and more impacting than most of our time (and thats saying alot). Go ahead, take a chance, listen to what the Church has to say about it. One suggestion: even if you think the Church is crazy on this topic...no ESPECIALLY if you think the Church is crazy on this topic, take a few minutes and read this but make sure you read the WHOLE thing.

Contraception: Why Not?

JANET SMITH

Janet Smith explains why the Catholic Church keeps insisting, in the face of the opposite position held by most of the rest of the modern world, that contraception is one of the worst inventions of our time.

My topic for tonight is the Church's teaching on contraception and various sexual issues. As you know, we live in a culture that thinks that contraception is one of the greatest inventions in the history of mankind. If you were to ask people if they wanted to give up their car or their computer or their contraceptive, it would be a hard choice to make. It's really considered to be something that has really put us, greatly, into the modern age and one of the greatest advances of modern medicine and modern times. Yet, there's this archaic church that tells us that, really, this is one of the worst inventions of mankind. According to the Church, contraception is one of the things that's plunging us into a kind of a disaster.
So we have this great polarization: a world that thinks contraception is one of the greatest inventions of our time and the Catholic Church that says it's one of the worst. I am going to try to help people see tonight why the Church's teaching certainly deserves serious consideration.

Most people don't know that every Christian church up until 1930 taught that contraception was wrong. There was a universal teaching against contraception within Christian churches. It was only in 1930 that the Anglican church first broke with that unbroken tradition and approved contraception within marriage for serious reasons. In 1931, Pope Pius XI wrote the Encyclical,Casti Connubii, which is usually translated On Christian Marriage, and there he reiterated what had been the constant teaching of the Church. Within the Catholic Church there was virtually no debate on the issue until the mid-1960's. The debate starts about 1963. There was really a great acceptance of the Church, of those in the Church, of the teaching of the church. In 1960, some 66% of Catholics were living by the Church's teaching. Sixty-six percent. Now they say some 80% of Catholics are contracepting. Thirty percent of Catholics are sterilized, which is the same rate as the rest of the population. Only 4% of Catholics are using Natural Family Planning. I personally think that might be a high estimate.
So, how have we in the last 30 years gone from 66% compliance to at best 4% of compliance?
Read the rest of the article here.

Camp W.I.S.D.O.M 2010

What is it?

Camp W.I.S.D.O.M stands for Willing and Inspired Sons and Daughters on Mission. Camp Wisdom is a 5 Day, 5 Night experience that is part service camp, part retreat and all out party that will inspire you, challenge you and start your college career off with a bang! You'll SERVE those in need, PRAY with your fellow students, receive life changing teachings and have the time of your life with other students as you get a taste of what its like to be involved in the Catholic Student Ministry and Our Lady of Wisdom Church on UL's Campus.

Where is it?

You'll stay right here at the Catholic Student Center located at Our Lady of Wisdom Catholic Church on the campus of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Our Student Center is located on the corner of St. Mary Blvd. and McKinley St.   Make sure you bring your sleeping bag and a pillow!

Note: If you live near by you are welcome to stay at your own house or with a friend but we'll be happy to have you here too! If you are moving into the dorms- don't fear- part of our service experience is joining up with the other ministries on campus to help everyone move into the dorms. You'll have plenty of time to get your things settled and lots of help to do so!

When is it?

Camp Wisdom begins on Sunday, August 15th. Registration begins at 4:30  and we'll attend 6pm Mass together that evening. Camp Wisdom ends on Friday, August 20th after the 12 Noon Mass. Your parents are invited to join us for Mass both on Sunday evening and Friday afternoon if they'd like.

Who's invited?

All UL Lafayette Students are invited to Camp  Wisdom. Many older students will be here for the whole experience and some will come for the evening activities to make sure they meet all of the incoming freshmen. We especially invite incoming Freshmen as Camp Wisdom is a week that will get you involved, inspired and geared up for College Life and introduce you to all of your new best friends!

How much does it cost?

The cost for the entire week is only $25. You can't eat for a whole week for that little! We'll feed you 3 meals a day plus all the snacks you can eat. Returning Students: If an incoming freshmen says that you referred them to Camp Wisdom you receive $5 off your registration fee. Tell everyone you know! (there is a space on their form for your name)

How Do I Register?

On the right in the information bar on our blog you'll find a registration form. Just enter your information and press submit. In a few days you'll receive an email with follow up information. Just bring your $25 Registration fee when you show up on August 15th. It's that easy!

On Confessing your sins ( a note from Fr. Sibley)

Father Sibley has some helpful advice for us when it comes to confessing mortal sin.

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A Note on Confessing Mortal Sins

When coming to Confession, if you have to confess a mortal sin, the Church teaches that it is important to mention both KIND and NUMBER (cf. Canon 988.1). Kind: What specific “kind” of sin is it? It is not
enough to say that you committed “impure acts” – this is too vague. While you don’t need to get into graphic detail, if you committed adultery then say you committed adultery. Number: How many times did you commit this specific mortal sin? There is a big difference in committing the sin one time since your last Confession vs. ten times. Why is it important to mention kind and number when making an integral confession? Because mentioning the kind of sin helps to hold us accountable for what we’ve done – any number of sins could fall under the category of “impure acts.” Please don’t be embarrassed or afraid, the priest has heard it all before (and will forget it soon after you’ve confessed it). Confessing the number of times you committed the sin is important because knowing the number helps the priest better give you advice on how to overcome a sin that might be have become habitual.

In reference to the issue of mortal sin, it is also valuable to note Canon 916 of the Code of Canon Law which reads: “A person who is conscious of grave sin is not to celebrate Mass or receive the body of
the Lord without previous sacramental confession unless there is a grave reason and there is no opportunity to confess; in this case the person is to remember the obligation to make an act of perfect contrition which includes the resolution of confessing as soon as possible.” If you are conscious that you are in the state of mortal sin, you are not to receive Holy Communion until you have received the Sacrament of Confession. Doing so becomes another grave sin. It is not sufficient to simply make an act of contrition with the intention of going later. Notice that the Canon mentions this is only possible when there is no opportunity to confess and there is a “grave reason.” The noble desire to receive the Eucharist or not wanting to be embarrassed
in front of friends and family does not constitute a grave reason. If you happen to find yourself in the state of grave sin, I encourage you to make it a point to go to Confession as soon as possible!

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Hey, atleast its not like this...'Automatic Confession'

Lesson One in Prayer - Peter Kreeft

Lesson One in Prayer


Let's get very, very basic and very, very practical about prayer. The single most important piece of advice I know about prayer is also the simplest: Just do it!

How to do it is less important than just doing it. Less-than-perfect prayer is infinitely better than no prayer; more perfect prayer is only finitely better than less perfect prayer.

Nancy Reagan was criticized for her simple anti-drug slogan: "Just say no." But there was wisdom there: the wisdom that the heart of any successful program to stop anything must be the simple will to say no. ("Just say no" doesn't mean that nothing else was needed, but that without that simple decision nothing else would work. "Just say no" may not be sufficient but it is necessary.)

Similarly, no program, method, book, teacher, or technique will ever succeed in getting us to start doing anything unless there is first of all that simple, absolute choice to do it. "Just say yes."

The major obstacle in most of our lives to just saying yes to prayer, the most popular and powerful excuse we give for not praying, or not praying more, or not praying regularly, is that we have no time.

The only effective answer to that excuse, I find, is a kind of murder. You have to kill something, you have to say no to something else, in order to make time to pray. Of course, you will never find time to pray, you have to make time to pray. And that means unmaking something else. The only way to install the tenant of prayer in the apartment building of your life is to evict some other tenant from those premises that prayer will occupy. Few of us have any empty rooms available.

Deciding to do that is the first thing. And you probably won't decide to do it, only wish to do it, unless you see prayer for what it is: a matter of life or death, your lifeline to God, to life itself.

Prayer is like Thanksgiving dinner. It takes one hour to eat it and ten hours to prepare it.

Is this exaggerated? Are there more important things? Love, for instance? We need love absolutely; but the love we need is agape, the love that only God has and is; so unless we go to God for it, we won't get it. And going to God for it means prayer. So unless we pray, we will not love.

Having got that clear and having made prayer your number one priority, having made a definite decision to do it, we must next rearrange our lives around it. Rearranging your time, preparing time to pray, is like preparing your house to paint. As everyone knows who has done any painting, preparation is three-quarters the work, three-quarters the hassle, and three-quarters the time. The actual painting is a breeze compared with the preparation. The same is true of prayer: the hardest step is preparing a place, a time, a sacred and inviolable part of each day for it. Prayer is like Thanksgiving dinner. It takes one hour to eat it and ten hours to prepare it. Prayer is like Christmas Day: it took a month of preparation, decoration, and shopping to arrange for that one day. Best of all, prayer is like love. Foreplay is, or should be, most of it. For two people truly and totally in love, all of their lives together is foreplay. Well, prayer is like spiritual love-making. God has waited patiently for you for a long, long time. He longs for you to touch the fringe of his being in prayer, as the woman touched the hem of Christ's garment, so that you can be healed. How many hours did that woman have to prepare for that one-minute touch?

The first and most important piece of practical preparation is scheduling. You absolutely must schedule a regular time for prayer, whether you are a "scheduler" with other things in your life or not. "Catch as catch can" simply won't work for prayer; it will mean less and less prayer, or none at all. One quick minute in the morning to offer your day to God is better than nothing at all, of course, but it is as radically inadequate as one quick minute a day with your wife or husband. You simply must decide each day to free up your schedule so you can pray.

How long a time? ...read the rest of this article.

Got a question about the Catholic Faith?

EWTN brings to you ' The Teachings of the Catholic Faith in an easy to use format'. Share it with your friends :)

Why be Catholic? Does it even matter?

Have you ever asked yourself "does it matter what 'brand' of Christian I am? Isn't it all the same as long as I'm a good person and love Jesus? The following is part of a journey of one woman who began as an Atheist and asked questions until she found the truth.

Read the first part of her journey here (from Atheism to a belief in God) and the second part (which this excerpt is taken from) here. Enjoy!

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I found out that the Catholic Church claimed to be a sort of divinely-guided Supreme Court, that God guided this Church to be inerrant in its official proclamations about what is right and wrong, how to interpret the Bible, how to know Jesus Christ, and all other questions of God and what he wants us to do. I heard that it claims that God speaks to us through sacred Scripture and through the sacred Tradition of his living Church.

That got my attention.

Clearly there was a need for this. Surely I was not the only person to ever feel lost in the world, unable to trust myself to objectively interpret the Bible to discern what God wants from us, unable to clearly tell which of my conclusions about right and wrong were guided by the Holy Spirit and which were guided by deeply-rooted selfishness (or perhaps something worse).

Now, obviously I wasn't going to become Catholic. I mean, the Catholic Church is weird and antiquated and sometimes the people in it do seriously bad stuff. But I was interested to at least explore this line of thinking and see what I found.

I could have never, ever imagined what I'd find. Reading the Catechism of the Catholic Church was like nothing I'd ever experienced. This was truth. I knew it. I'd finally found it. It described God, our relationship to him, the Bible, Jesus, moral truths -- the entire human experience -- in a way that resonated on a deep level.

When I started living my life according to Catholic teaching the proof was, as they say, in the pudding. It worked. It worked better than I could have ever guessed it would. And since I've been able to receive what they say is really the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, my soul, my entire life, has changed profoundly. But that is whole separate story (and, really, the main subject of this blog). To summarize my experience, I leave you with a quote from G.K. Chesterton, writing about why he converted to orthodox Catholicism:

I do it because the [Catholic Church] has not merely told this truth or that truth, but has revealed itself as a truth-telling thing. All other philosophies say the things that plainly seem to be true; only this philosophy has again and again said the thing that does not seem to be true, but is true. Alone of all creeds it is convincing where it is not attractive; it turns out to be right, like my father in the garden.

My thoughts exactly.

Again, I share this not to cause division, but for the same reason anyone talks about anything they love -- that mysterious desire we all have to shout from the rooftops about the things that we find to be profound, beautiful, and true.

Pope Gives Secret to Vocational Discernment (and True Prayer)

 a Guideline to Determine "True Prayer"


SULMONA, Italy, JULY 5, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI is telling youth the secret of recognizing God's call, affirming that the trick is making the heart accustomed to recognizing the Lord.

The Pope said this Sunday during his one-day trip to the Abruzzi region of Italy, devastated by an earthquake in 2009. While in Sulmona, he had a meeting with youth in the city's cathedral.
Responding to their questions, he told them the "secret of a vocation lies in the capacity and in the joy of distinguishing [God's] voice, of listening to and following his voice. But to do this, it is necessary to accustom our heart to recognize the Lord, to hear him like a person who is near me and who loves me."
The Holy Father asserted that for this, moments of "interior silence in the day-to-day routine" are essential.
But once one has learned to hear this voice, he said, and to generously follow it, "one fears nothing, he or she knows and feels that God is with him or her, and that he is a Friend, Father and Brother."
"Said in one word: the secret of a vocation lies in the relationship with God, in prayer that grows precisely in interior silence, in the capacity to feel that God is near," the Pontiff added. "And this is true both before the decision, at the moment, that is, of deciding and of leaving, as well as later if one wishes to be faithful and to persevere along the way."

Addressing problems
Going on to clarify the concept of prayer, Benedict XVI affirmed that "true prayer" is not "foreign to reality."
"If praying alienated you, took you away from your real life, beware: it would not be true prayer," he said. "On the contrary, dialogue with God is the guarantee of truth, of truthfulness with oneself and with others and, therefore, of liberty."
In this sense, the Pope acknowledged, faith and prayer "do not resolve problems, but enable one to address them with a new light and strength, in a way fitting to man, and also more serenely and effectively."
He said the history of the Church is full of saints who, precisely with prayer, "were always able to find new, creative solutions to respond to concrete human needs in every century: health, education, work, etc."
"Their daring," the Pope reflected, "was animated by the Holy Spirit and by a strong and generous love of brothers, especially of the weakest and most underprivileged."

As Benedict XVI concluded his meeting with the young people, he admitted his regret at having to leave.

However, he said, "I leave happy, as a father who is serene because he has seen that his children are growing and are growing well. Carry on, dear young people! Carry on in the way of the Gospel; love the Church, our Mother; be simple and pure of heart; be humble and generous."



Viva la Papa!

Father Sibley on his 4th of July Homily

"In reference to my homily on July 4th, you can read 

the text of the homily where Pope Benedict spoke

of the establishment of the Pontifical council for

the New Evangelization here. 

I drew most of the points from my homily from the first 

response of the Pope to the  questions posed to him

by the US bishops during his visit to the States.

You can read the texts of all of Pope Benedict’s speeches

and  homilies during his apostolic visitation 

to America in 2008 in the  book Pope Benedict in America.   

Here is the link to Archbishop Chaput’s challenging talk 

in the liturgy.I think it is one of the best things

on the liturgy I have read in years.I think you can 

actually make a connection between Benedict’s 

comments on the  “individualism and eclecticism” 

of American Catholicism and the approach of many

to the liturgy. They want to have their own special 

liturgy, one fashioned to their own tastes and preferences,

rather  than receiving the liturgy givento us by the Church.

Of course,  Ratzinger makes this point exactly in 

his now classic The Spirit of the Liturgy."

( I apologize for the choppy layout of this post- its been one of those tenchnological moments here! - Amy)

What’s Behind the New Interest in Confession?

Is the present increase in the popularity of the confession of sins a step toward a realistic religiosity, or is it the popularity of the penitential rite of the American Church of Christ without Christ?

Confession of sins is making a comeback. Catholics, other-Christians, non-Christians, and even non-believers are reported to be embracing the practice in traditional and non-traditional ways.
As a Catholic priest who hears confessions, and as a sinner who needs it, I welcome the new interest in the forgiveness of sins as an opportunity for spiritual growth. Indeed, the roots of the urge to confess our sins lie deep in the human heart. I believe that the impulse to confess deeds that weigh on our conscience can be a healthy affirmation of ties that bind us all. This experience of solidarity is the beginning of that sense of social responsibility upon which our survival depends. From this point of view, the reported popularity of confession is a welcome development. However, this is only a beginning.

read this article here.

A Canadian! Who woulda thought Eh?!

In a move without precedent, a Canadian prelate has been named to lead one of the nine Congregations of the Roman Curia. Yet on an even more seismic plane, for the first time in history the Vatican's "Big Three" dicastery chiefs -- State, CDF and Bishops -- are dominated not just by two North Americans, but two non-Europeans.

This appointment is special to me as Cardinal Ouellet was someone who's works we read often and came to love greatly in graduate school at the John Paul II Institute in Washington DC. Even more special for our new Pastor Fr. Sibley as He was directly taught by Cardinal Ouellet and not only that but the good Cardinal directed His thesis at the JPII in Rome. This is very
good news for the Church as the Canadian Cardinal will be making all the new appointments for Bishops from now on!

Read more about Cardinal Marc Ouellet and his appointment as "the Kingmaker" here.


* for those of you reading this on Facebook please see this post at our blog http://ragincajuncatholics.blogspot.com