The following is an article that was e-mailed to me by the alumni office of St. Ignatius High School in Cleveland, Ohio. I think it shows a positive view of what students are doing during Holy Week to remember the dead and serve Christ in all they do.

As we celebrate holy week in preparation of Jesus' death and resurrection at Easter, the Saint Ignatius community will gather together with the pallbearers of the St. Joseph of Arimathea Society the morning of Holy Thursday at Potter's Field to pray for the souls of the indigent, alone, and unwanted who are buried in unmarked graves.

Keith Mokris '04, a Jesuit volunteer at Saint Ignatius, took the photographs below at a recent funeral where student pallbearers laid to rest a woman who was the last living member of her family. They prayed over her and took her to her final resting place.



Six members of the St. Joseph of Arimathea Pallbearer

Ministry attended the funeral Mass of Helen, who died

at the age of 88. She had outlived her family and friends.

Fifteen people attended one organ player and one friend,

two funeral directors, four nuns and six pallbearers from Saint Ignatius

Helen's funeral, including the priest,





The funeral procession included the hearse, a single car and a Saint Ignatius school van. Helen's casket was simple with no flowers to honor her.
At the time of her burial, ten gathered to pray, including the six student pallbearers.

God and Politics

Question #51

"Why does the Church always disagree with politics?"
The Church doesn't "always disagree with politics," although its teachings contradict some people's political ideas or positions. To understand what this means, we should be clear about what politics is. Politics is the art of governing a society. People sometimes disagree about the best way to govern society. When they do, their disagreements are political.

For the most part, the Magisterium (the teaching office of the Church) doesn't address political issues. Sometimes, however, a moral issue will have political implications. Then the Church does talk about politics, but only because it is obliged to talk about morality.

Consider, for example, the issue of abortion. Because pre-born children are human beings, they have a right to life. Because government is obliged to protect and promote human rights, it is obliged to protect and promote the pre-born child's right to life. When government passes laws or makes legal rulings that deny such a basic human right, it is the duty of the Church to speak out. Not because the Church is concerned with the details of politics or favors one political party or another -- it doesn't -- but because human rights are at stake.

There is a sense, however, in which "the Church" ought to be fully involved with politics: when we mean by "the Church" not merely the Magesterium, but the individual members, especially the laity. Lay men and women are especially called to serve Christ in the world. This means they should apply their Christian moral values to examining and assessing the laws and practices of society. They should try their best to foster laws that uphold God's moral law and do away with those that contradict it. They do this by voting, running for office, communicating with elected officials, peacefully protesting and other means. If elected, they would have an obligation to oppose or inhibit, to the limits of their power, any governmental policy or action in violation of the moral or natural law.

Doing these things will not always be popular, but then again Jesus said his followers wouldn't be popular with the world (Matt. 10:22, Luke 21:17).

--Matthew Pinto, Did Adam and Eve have Belly Buttons?

Artemide Zatti

Government and faith based charities

This is a section from an article written by Lisa Miller from Newsweek.

"Council members were able to agree that the constitutional separation of church and state is foundational and that recipients of government money be more clearly informed about what that means in terms of their activities—at the federal and at the local level. Most interesting, the task force asked the president to revise language that bars religious groups receiving federal aid from "inherently religious activities, such as worship, religious instruction and proselytizing" saying the word "inherently" allowed too much room for misunderstanding. "Explicitly," they said, would be a better word choice.

The task force was also able to agree that protecting the religious identities of religious institutions is crucial. They disagreed over things like whether a religious organization receiving government aid could perform social services in a room containing religious symbols, and whether churches receiving government money should be required to set up a separate corporation for those funds. In a political environment of gridlock and frustration, the clarity of these agreements—and even of the disagreements—is welcome."

Another iPhone commercial

Here's another iPhone parody commercial. enjoy.

Catholic iPod/iPhone Comerical

Now this is so cool!!! I would love to get an iPod for this, and whomever made this applications, THANK YOU!!!!!

This is a great way to show how we can integrate our faith with technology. Maybe this information age isn't as bad as it seems, so long as we don't forget about Christ.

These days can be hard for us Catholics. So many different views and ideas are out there, and many of them clash (or maybe crash is a better word -- like car crash) directly with the Catholic faith. We need something to help us find out what we believe, and how to line it up with what others believe and come out with the truth.

I was given this book for confirmation. It is all apologetics: the art of defending ones faith and providing reasons for it. I thought it would be helpful, plus the name of the book is tremendous: Did Adam and Eve have Belly Buttons? It consists of 2oo questions (yes, the title is one of the questions) which the author, Matthew Pinto, has been asked over his years as an apologist. I will post a few of these questions over the coming weeks. I'll bounce around the book, which covers a wide variety of topics.

Question #1

"Is there really a God?"

A. Yes. God is the ultimate reality. He is actually holding all things in existence. If God stopped doing so, we would cease to exist but He would continue to exist.

We know God exists through revelation (Scripture and Sacred Tradition) and our intellects (reflecting on the world God made). In the Bible, God reveals: "I Am, Who Am" (Ex. 3:14) and "I am the Alpha and Omega," (Rev. 1:8) which means He is the beginning and the end of all things. Lastly, God has some harsh words for those who deny He exists: "The fool says in his heart that there is no God" (Psalm 14:1).

Saint of the Day

St. David

Feastday: March 1

According to tradition, St. David was the son of King Sant of South Wales and St. Non. He was ordained a priest and later studied under St. Paulinus. Later, he was involved in missionary work and founded a number of monasteries. The monastery he founded at Menevia in Southwestern Wales was noted for extreme asceticism. David and his monks drank neither wine nor beer - only water - while putting in a full day of heavy manual labor and intense study. Around the year 550, David attended a synod at Brevi in Cardiganshire. His contributions at the synod are said to have been the major cause for his election as primate of the Cambrian Church. He was reportedly consecrated archbishop by the patriarch of Jerusalem while on a visit to the Holy Land. He also is said to have invoked a council that ended the last vestiges of Pelagianism. David died at his monastery in Menevia around the year 589, and his cult was approved in 1120 by Pope Callistus II. He is revered as the patron of Wales. Undoubtedly, St. David was endowed with substantial qualities of spiritual leadership. What is more, many monasteries flourished as a result of his leadership and good example. His staunch adherence to monastic piety bespeaks a fine example for modern Christians seeking order and form in their prayer life. His feast day is March 1.

Salesian Enter New Zealand

The Salesians are now in 131 countries, the latest one now being New Zealand. Read the following article taken from E-Service (a Salesian news letter). We pray for them as well as their work, that it may be fruitful and bring many to Christ.

(MASSEY, New Zealand, February 20) Confreres often just assume that there has been a Salesian presence in New Zealand for many years, and have been surprised to hear that there has not been -- until now! Perhaps they confuse Australians and New Zealanders, as others confuse Canadians and Americans. Salesians have now established their first official presence in the sovereign nation of New Zealand, or Aotearoa (“The Long White Cloud”) as many of its indigenous and Pacifican immigrant inhabitants prefer to call it -- for indeed this is one of the “good reasons” for the Salesian presence.

The founding presence of the Salesians in New Zealand opened its doors to the faithful of the parish at Massey, an outer suburb of Auckland, on the first Sunday of February. Three Salesians have been assigned to this new work: Fr. James Adayadiel, a missionary in the Australia-Pacific presence for many years, and a founding figure in our work in Samoa, is the pastor. He is assisted by Fr. Mika Leilua, a Samoan priest, and Fr. Mathew Vadakkevettuvazhiyil, a missionary on loan from the East Africa Province.

There are two churches in the parish: one is in Massey itself (St. Paul’s), and another at nearly Ranui (St. Malachy’s). The faithful come from all parts of the world, but especially Samoa (and other islands in the Pacific), India, and Asia. We have begun our work in the parish, immediately establishing close contact with all the already established groups. Fr. Mathew has already set up contact with the young, and is a regular presence in the parish school.

On February 13 the Salesians celebrat-ed the feast of Don Bosco. We were not “in charge” for Sunday, January 31, so we shifted the celebration to this day. Past pupils and friends of the Salesians from Australia, Hong Kong, India, the Philippines, and other places formed a community of about 50 people at a Mass celebrated by Fr. Raphel Lobo, a former Salesian from the Bombay Province.

The Australia-Pacific presence rejoices in this encouraging new start of Don Bosco’s mission among the people of New Zealand. The people are already asking for information about Don Bosco, his Salesians, and the Salesian work.

Salesian E-Service February 25, 2010