Sunday, December 25, 2011




Catholic Charities. Providing Help. Creating Hope. 

VISION: Believing in the presence of God in our midst, we proclaim the sanctity of human life and the dignity of the person by sharing in the mission of Jesus given to the Church. To this end, Catholic Charities works with individuals, families, and communities to help them meet their needs, address their issues, eliminate oppression, and build a just and compassionate society.

MISSION: Rooted in the Mission of the Diocese of Youngstown "to minister to the people in the six counties of northeastern Ohio . . .(and) to the world community", we are called to provide service to people in need, to advocate for justice in social structures, and to call the entire Church and other people of good will to do the same.

GOALS: Catholic Charities is devoted to helping meet basic human needs, strengthening families, building communities and empowering low-income people. Working to reduce poverty in half by 2020.

KEY VALUE: Hospitality

WHAT WE DO: Organizing Love. "As a community, the Church must practise love. Love thus needs to be organized if it is to be an ordered service to the community" (Deus Caritas Est, par. 20) 


http://commons.orthodoxwiki.org/images/f/f2/AlbazinTheotokos_Icon.jpg

On Sunday (Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord (Christmas)  http://usccb.org/bible/readings/122511.cfm) we read in the Gospel of  John the Prologue to his entire work,  that  “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. “   Jesus -- who we celebrate today at his coming -- is the Son of the Living God.  This Only Begotten Son, the “Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”  God is with us.


In Catholic Charities http://www.ccdoy.org ,  we celebrate this great feast each day as we welcome someone to our offices or on the phone.  We believe that as Jesus became Flesh to be with us, we at Catholic Charities continue that mandate to be in solidarity with all persons, especially those who are poor and living in desperation.  Christmas is that great day when we see again the power and mystery of God:  God is with us.  Knowing that, we can give hope to persons seeking that compassionate assurance that we are not alone but graced with the Spirit.  Merry Christmas.


Reflection from Church Documents and Official Statements

Pontifical Council of Justice and Peace
TOWARDS REFORMING THE INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL AND MONETARY SYSTEMS IN THE CONTEXT OF GLOBAL PUBLIC AUTHORITY, October 24, 2011


On the way to building a more fraternal and just human family and, even before that, a new humanism open to transcendence, Blessed John XXIII’s teaching seems especially timely. In the prophetic Encyclical Pacem in Terris of 1963, he observed that the world was heading towards ever greater unification. He then acknowledged the fact that a correspondence was lacking in the human community between the political organization “on a world level and the objective needs of the universal common good”. He also expressed the hope that one day “a true world political authority” would be created.

In view of the unification of the world engendered by the complex phenomenon of globalization, and of the importance of guaranteeing, in addition to other collective goods, the good of a free, stable world economic and financial system at the service of the real economy, today the teaching of Pacem in Terris appears to be even more vital and worthy of urgent implementation.

 


Some important date(s) this week:
http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Saints/ByDate.aspx

See website for biographies of Saints and Blessed celebrated this week.

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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 28.  Holy Innocents.    Herod “the Great,” king of Judea, was unpopular with his people because of his connections with the Romans and his religious indifference. Hence he was insecure and fearful of any threat to his throne. He was a master politician and a tyrant capable of extreme brutality. He killed his wife, his brother and his sister’s two husbands, to name only a few.
Matthew 2:1-18 tells this story: Herod was “greatly troubled” when astrologers from the east came asking the whereabouts of “the newborn king of the Jews,” whose star they had seen. They were told that the Jewish Scriptures named Bethlehem as the place where the Messiah would be born. Herod cunningly told them to report back to him so that he could also “do him homage.” They found Jesus, offered him their gifts and, warned by an angel, avoided Herod on their way home. Jesus escaped to Egypt.
Herod became furious and “ordered the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity two years old and under.” The horror of the massacre and the devastation of the mothers and fathers led Matthew to quote Jeremiah: “A voice was heard in Ramah, sobbing and loud lamentation; Rachel weeping for her children...” (Matthew 2:18). Rachel was the wife of Jacob/Israel. She is pictured as weeping at the place where the Israelites were herded together by the conquering Assyrians for their march into captivity.



SHARING HOPE IN HARD ECONOMIC TIMES.

Catholic Charities' annual Keep the Kids Warm campaign begins on the Feast of the Holy Family (December 30) and runs through the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord (January 9, 2012). Keep the Kids Warm is an important annual effort to raise utility assistance funds for families served by Catholic Charities throughout the Diocese of Youngstown. One hundred percent (100%) of all funds raised through this effort are returned to the county in which they were collected to help meet needs in the donor's own community. Thank you for your consideration of a donation now.  http://www.catholiccharitiesyoungstown.org/ccdoy-238.html





 PAPAL INTENTIONS:   December 2011

General Intention: Peace among All Peoples.
That all peoples may grow in harmony and peace through mutual understanding and respect.


Missionary Intention: That children and young people may be messengers of the Gospel and that they may be respected and preserved from all violence and exploitation.

Corporal Works of Mercy:  The seven practices of charity toward our neighbor
  1. Feed the hungry
  2. Give drink to the thirsty
  3. Clothe the naked
  4. Shelter the homeless
  5. Visit the sick
  6. Visit those in prison
  7. Bury the dead




Note: Please consider joining our
FACEBOOK CAUSE http://apps.facebook.com/causes/106889 
FACEBOOK GROUP https://www.facebook.com/pages/Catholic-Charities-Diocese-of-Youngstown/138817639487339
TWITTER account, CCDOY, http://twitter.com/CCDOY
for current updates and calls to action that we can all use. 

See our website at www.catholiccharitiesyoungstown.org for links to the our ministries and services.    
For more information on Catholic Social Doctrine and its connection to our ministries, visit my blog at:  http://corbinchurchthinking.blogspot.com/
 

Sunday, December 18, 2011

MONDAY MORNING MISSION MEDITATION For the Week of December 18, 2011



Catholic Charities. Providing Help. Creating Hope. 

VISION: Believing in the presence of God in our midst, we proclaim the sanctity of human life and the dignity of the person by sharing in the mission of Jesus given to the Church. To this end, Catholic Charities works with individuals, families, and communities to help them meet their needs, address their issues, eliminate oppression, and build a just and compassionate society.

MISSION: Rooted in the Mission of the Diocese of Youngstown "to minister to the people in the six counties of northeastern Ohio . . .(and) to the world community", we are called to provide service to people in need, to advocate for justice in social structures, and to call the entire Church and other people of good will to do the same.

GOALS: Catholic Charities is devoted to helping meet basic human needs, strengthening families, building communities and empowering low-income people. Working to reduce poverty in half by 2020.

KEY VALUE: Hospitality

WHAT WE DO: Organizing Love. "As a community, the Church must practise love. Love thus needs to be organized if it is to be an ordered service to the community" (Deus Caritas Est, par. 20) 


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On Sunday (Fourth Sunday of Advent, B  http://usccb.org/bible/readings/121811.cfm) we read in the Gospel of  Luke about the story of the angel Gabriel announcing the Good News of the Incarnation to Mary -- a simple, humble, scared young woman.  Gabriel calms her with the news of God’s great love, and affirms Mary’s freedom to say “yes” to such an invitation to be the vessel of the Incarnation of God.  This powerful story is paired with today’s first reading from 2 Samuel, wherein King David is reminded that as he lives in luxury, God’s Ark resides in a tent.  David commits to building a new temple.  Mary’s “yes” goes further:  the Ark no longer resides in a tent nor in a building but God is With Us, made Flesh.


In Catholic Charities http://www.ccdoy.org ,  we know the importance of helping families find a decent dwelling place that is safe, affordable and secure.  Caritas Communities’ Eastwood Village, with 152 units of permanent housing, is sponsored by our Catholic Charities Housing Corporation (CCHO) and the Humility of Mary Housing.  CCHO sponsors several other single and multi-family housing units in the City of Youngstown; our Catholic Charities of Portage County provides nearly 20 families with safe and secure housing in Ravenna. The Catholic Charities Regional Agency’s homeless outreach efforts provides safety for many people.  As well, the Regional Agency and the Catholic Charities of Ashtabula County’s work assisting persons facing foreclosure give help to families facing a major crisis.  Because we believe that God is made Flesh, and has built “his tent among us,” we continue to live out that belief by providing help and creating hope for persons and families each day.


Reflection from Church Documents and Official Statements

Pontifical Council of Justice and Peace
TOWARDS REFORMING THE INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL AND MONETARY SYSTEMS IN THE CONTEXT OF GLOBAL PUBLIC AUTHORITY, October 24, 2011

Recognizing the primacy of being over having and of ethics over the economy, the world’s peoples ought to adopt an ethic of solidarity as the animating core of their action. This implies abandoning all forms of petty selfishness and embracing the logic of the global common good which transcends merely contingent, particular interests. In a word, they ought to have a keen sense of belonging to the human family which means sharing the common dignity of all human beings: “Even prior to the logic of a fair exchange of goods and the forms of justice appropriate to it, there exists something which is due to man because he is man, by reason of his lofty dignity.”

In 1991, after the failure of Marxist communism, Blessed John Paul II had already warned of the risk of an “idolatry of the market, an idolatry which ignores the existence of goods which by their nature are not and cannot be mere commodities.” Today his warning needs to be heeded without delay and a road must be taken that is in greater harmony with the dignity and transcendent vocation of the person and the human family.

 

Some important date(s) this week:

http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Saints/ByDate.aspx

See website for biographies of Saints and Blessed celebrated this week.

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SATURDAY, DECEMBER 24.   Christmas at Greccio, 1223
What better way to prepare for the arrival of the Christ Child than to take a brief journey to Greccio, the spot in central Italy where St. Francis of Assisi created the first Christmas crib in the year 1223.
Francis, recalling a visit he had made years before to Bethlehem, resolved to create the manger he had seen there. The ideal spot was a cave in nearby Greccio. He would find a baby (we’re not sure if it was a live infant or the carved image of a baby), hay upon which to lay him, an ox and an ass to stand beside the manger. Word went out to the people of the town. At the appointed time they arrived carrying torches and candles.
One of the friars began celebrating Mass. Francis himself gave the sermon. His biographer, Thomas of Celano, recalls that Francis “stood before the manger…overcome with love and filled with a wonderful happiness…/” For Francis, the simple celebration was meant to recall the hardships Jesus suffered even as an infant, a savior who chose to become poor for our sake, a truly human Jesus.
Tonight, as we pray around the Christmas cribs in our homes, we welcome into our hearts that same Savior.


SHARING HOPE IN HARD ECONOMIC TIMES.

Last minute gift idea:   Don't wrack your brain trying to figure out a gift for that person who has everything.... instead, give a gift in their honor to Catholic Charities Emergency Assistance Program.  http://bit.ly/sPYGMq



 PAPAL INTENTIONS:   December 2011

General Intention: Peace among All Peoples.
That all peoples may grow in harmony and peace through mutual understanding and respect.


Missionary Intention: That children and young people may be messengers of the Gospel and that they may be respected and preserved from all violence and exploitation.

Corporal Works of Mercy:  The seven practices of charity toward our neighbor
  1. Feed the hungry
  2. Give drink to the thirsty
  3. Clothe the naked
  4. Shelter the homeless
  5. Visit the sick
  6. Visit those in prison
  7. Bury the dead




Note: Please consider joining our
FACEBOOK CAUSE http://apps.facebook.com/causes/106889 
FACEBOOK GROUP https://www.facebook.com/pages/Catholic-Charities-Diocese-of-Youngstown/138817639487339
TWITTER account, CCDOY, http://twitter.com/CCDOY
for current updates and calls to action that we can all use. 

See our website at www.catholiccharitiesyoungstown.org for links to the our ministries and services.    
For more information on Catholic Social Doctrine and its connection to our ministries, visit my blog at:  http://corbinchurchthinking.blogspot.com/
 

Monday, December 12, 2011

Pope Benedict XVI Speaks of Economic Justice, Solidarity and Cooperatives

In a world that has been battered by the global economic downturn Pope Benedict on Saturday stressed the duty the Church has at this time to proclaim with renewed vigor the message of Christ which is hope. The Holy Father was speaking to members of the Confederation of Italian Cooperatives and the Federation of Italian Co-operative Banks in the Clementine Hall in the Vatican.

The Pope recalled how the Church down through the years has encouraged the prolific presence of Catholics in Italian society through the promotion of cooperative institutions, the development of social enterprises and many other works of public interest, characterized by forms of participation and self-management. 

What has prompted members to join in a co-operative-type organizations, said Pope Benedict was not only for economic reasons, but also the desire to live an experience of unity and solidarity.
The Pope also noted the fact that these institutions had a valuable role to play in promoting evangelical ideals and the culture of life and family.

Taking inspiration from his encyclical Caritas in Veritate, the Holy Father said that even in the field of economics and finance "right intention, transparency and the search for positive results were mutually compatible and must never be separated.” 

Drawing his address to a close the Holy Father urged those present to remain faithful to the Gospel and the teaching of the Church which encourages “social development, experiences of microcredit and an economy driven by a logic of communion and fraternity.”

Even in the world economy, said Pope Benedict, it is necessary to draw on our relationship with God, in order to live in love and solidarity. 

Sunday, December 11, 2011

MONDAY MORNING MISSION MEDITATION for the week of December 11, 2011



Catholic Charities. Providing Help. Creating Hope. 

VISION: Believing in the presence of God in our midst, we proclaim the sanctity of human life and the dignity of the person by sharing in the mission of Jesus given to the Church. To this end, Catholic Charities works with individuals, families, and communities to help them meet their needs, address their issues, eliminate oppression, and build a just and compassionate society.

MISSION: Rooted in the Mission of the Diocese of Youngstown "to minister to the people in the six counties of northeastern Ohio . . .(and) to the world community", we are called to provide service to people in need, to advocate for justice in social structures, and to call the entire Church and other people of good will to do the same.

GOALS: Catholic Charities is devoted to helping meet basic human needs, strengthening families, building communities and empowering low-income people. Working to reduce poverty in half by 2020.

KEY VALUE: Hospitality

WHAT WE DO: Organizing Love. "As a community, the Church must practise love. Love thus needs to be organized if it is to be an ordered service to the community" (Deus Caritas Est, par. 20) 


http://thankevann.com/hsg/blogart/xmas/advent3.jpg

On Sunday (Third Sunday of Advent, B   http://usccb.org/bible/readings/121111.cfm  ) we read in the Gospel of  John about the interrogation between John the Baptist and some leaders.  The leaders want to know by what authority John the Baptist is preaching and baptizing.  John reminds them of the Prophet Isaiah’s call of one who makes a path for the Lord God; about one who points to a greater One coming.  It is a cry in the desert: make a new path.  Change your hearts.  Come back to God.  We also hear in the Letter to the Thessalonians that we must “rejoice always.”  We have heard this Good News.  We have seen the One.  Rejoice.


In Catholic Charities http://www.ccdoy.org ,  we rejoice each and every day knowing that families and persons trust us to be a place of welcome and hope.  We rejoice also because we know that though we may not have unlimited resources, we are blessed by God’s tender mercy with generous benefactors who share in our mission to provide service, advocate for justice and convene others to do the same.  We also rejoice in the knowledge that we see God face to face with each person we encounter.  We also rejoice because through our ministry in the Church we can  bring joy to many persons and families facing stress, fear, isolation, and hopelessness.  We rejoice because we know what authority we have to be there in the communities we serve:  we come with the authority of knowing that Jesus is Come, God is With Us.


Reflection from Church Documents and Official Statements

Pontifical Council of Justice and Peace
TOWARDS REFORMING THE INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL AND MONETARY SYSTEMS IN THE CONTEXT OF GLOBAL PUBLIC AUTHORITY, October 24, 2011


The great economic and social development of the past century, with their bright spots and serious shadows, can also be attributed in large part to the continued development of technology and more recently to advances in information technologies and especially their applications in the economy and most significantly in finance.

However, to interpret the current new social question lucidly, we must avoid the error – itself a product of neo-liberal thinking – that would consider all the problems that need tackling to be exclusively of a technical nature. In such a guise, they evade the needed discernment and ethical evaluation. In this context Benedict XVI's encyclical warns about the dangers of the technocracy ideology: that is, of making technology absolute, which “tends to prevent people from recognizing anything that cannot be explained in terms of matter alone” and minimizing the value of the choices made by the concrete human individual who works in the economic-financial system by reducing them to mere technical variables. Being closed to a “beyond” in the sense of something more than technology, not only makes it impossible to find adequate solutions to the problems, but it impoverishes the principal victims of the crisis more and more from the material standpoint.

In the context of the complexity of the phenomena, the importance of the ethical and cultural factors cannot be overlooked or underestimated. In fact, the crisis has revealed behaviours like selfishness, collective greed and the hoarding of goods on a great scale. No one can be content with seeing man live like “a wolf to his fellow man”, according to the concept expounded by Hobbes. No one can in conscience accept the development of some countries to the detriment of others. If no solutions are found to the various forms of injustice, the negative effects that will follow on the social, political and economic level will be destined to create a climate of growing hostility and even violence, and ultimately undermine the very foundations of democratic institutions, even the ones considered most solid.






Some important date(s) this week:
http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Saints/ByDate.aspx

See website for biographies of Saints and Blessed celebrated this week.

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MONDAY, DECEMBER 12. Our Lady of Guadalupe  The feast in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe goes back to the 16th century. Chronicles of that period tell us the story.
A poor Indian named Cuauhtlatohuac was baptized and given the name Juan Diego. He was a 57-year-old widower and lived in a small village near Mexico City. On Saturday morning, December 9, 1531, he was on his way to a nearby barrio to attend Mass in honor of Our Lady.
He was walking by a hill called Tepeyac when he heard beautiful music like the warbling of birds. A radiant cloud appeared and within it a young Native American maiden dressed like an Aztec princess. The lady spoke to him in his own language and sent him to the bishop of Mexico, a Franciscan named Juan de Zumarraga. The bishop was to build a chapel in the place where the lady appeared.
Eventually the bishop told Juan Diego to have the lady give him a sign. About this same time Juan Diego’s uncle became seriously ill. This led poor Diego to try to avoid the lady. The lady found Diego, nevertheless, assured him that his uncle would recover and provided roses for Juan to carry to the bishop in his cape or tilma.
When Juan Diego opened his tilma in the bishop’s presence, the roses fell to the ground and the bishop sank to his knees. On Juan Diego’s tilma appeared an image of Mary exactly as she had appeared at the hill of Tepeyac. It was December 12, 1531.



SHARING HOPE IN HARD ECONOMIC TIMES.

Remember those who struggle to pay for food for their families.  Help us make their Christmas hopes come true.   Consider making a donation to Catholic Charities.  Contact Nikole Baringer for more information.


 PAPAL INTENTIONS:   December 2011

General Intention: Peace among All Peoples.
That all peoples may grow in harmony and peace through mutual understanding and respect.


Missionary Intention: That children and young people may be messengers of the Gospel and that they may be respected and preserved from all violence and exploitation.

Corporal Works of Mercy:  The seven practices of charity toward our neighbor
  1. Feed the hungry
  2. Give drink to the thirsty
  3. Clothe the naked
  4. Shelter the homeless
  5. Visit the sick
  6. Visit those in prison
  7. Bury the dead




Note: Please consider joining our
FACEBOOK CAUSE http://apps.facebook.com/causes/106889 FACEBOOK GROUP https://www.facebook.com/pages/Catholic-Charities-Diocese-of-Youngstown/138817639487339
TWITTER account, CCDOY, http://twitter.com/CCDOY
for current updates and calls to action that we can all use. 

See our website at www.catholiccharitiesyoungstown.org for links to the our ministries and services.    
For more information on Catholic Social Doctrine and its connection to our ministries, visit my blog at:  http://corbinchurchthinking.blogspot.com/
 

Sunday, December 4, 2011

MONDAY MORNING MISSION MEDITATION for the week of December 3, 2011




Catholic Charities. Providing Help. Creating Hope. 

VISION: Believing in the presence of God in our midst, we proclaim the sanctity of human life and the dignity of the person by sharing in the mission of Jesus given to the Church. To this end, Catholic Charities works with individuals, families, and communities to help them meet their needs, address their issues, eliminate oppression, and build a just and compassionate society.

MISSION: Rooted in the Mission of the Diocese of Youngstown "to minister to the people in the six counties of northeastern Ohio . . .(and) to the world community", we are called to provide service to people in need, to advocate for justice in social structures, and to call the entire Church and other people of good will to do the same.

GOALS: Catholic Charities is devoted to helping meet basic human needs, strengthening families, building communities and empowering low-income people. Working to reduce poverty in half by 2020.

KEY VALUE: Hospitality

WHAT WE DO: Organizing Love. "As a community, the Church must practise love. Love thus needs to be organized if it is to be an ordered service to the community" (Deus Caritas Est, par. 20) 


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On Sunday (Second Sunday of Advent, B   http://usccb.org/bible/readings/120411.cfm    ) we read in the Gospel of Mark about how St. John the Baptist introduces his entire gospel message.  This prophet proclaims that repentance is at hand, and that One greater than him will come to bring salvation.  John the Baptist witnesses, with his own life, to the One who is Present and is Coming:  Jesus the Christ.  In the first reading from the prophet Isaiah, we hear about the power of God’s coming, with the tender image of a shepherd who cares for his flock.  This One who is to come will be our judge modeling love and compassion.


In Catholic Charities http://www.ccdoy.org ,  we continue to announce the good news that we serve One who is greater than us, and One who loves us: Jesus the Lord.  This understanding infuses all we do: we work on behalf of the Church’s mission as given to us by Jesus to love and care for each other.  Besides providing services to care for the material needs of people, as a shepherd would care for his/her flock, Catholic Charities also continues in the tradition of the Prophets to announce good news and advocate for just policies and laws.  John the Baptist reminds us to be a voice in the desert proclaiming God’s love and justice.


Reflection from Church Documents and Official Statements

Pontifical Council of Justice and Peace
TOWARDS REFORMING THE INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL AND MONETARY SYSTEMS IN THE CONTEXT OF GLOBAL PUBLIC AUTHORITY, October 24, 2011


Regulations and controls, imperfect though they may be, already often exist at the national and regional levels; whereas on the international level, it is hard to apply and consolidate such controls and rules.

The inequalities and distortions of capitalist development are often an expression not only of economic liberalism but also of utilitarian thinking: that is, theoretical and practical approaches according to which what is useful for the individual leads to the good of the community. This saying has a core of truth, but it cannot be ignored that individual utility – even where it is legitimate – does not always favour the common good. In many cases a spirit of solidarity is called for that transcends personal utility for the good of the community.

In the 1920s, some economists had already warned about giving too much weight, in the absence of regulations and controls, to theories which have since become prevailing ideologies and practices on the international level.

One devastating effect of these ideologies, especially in the last decades of the past century and the first years of the current one, has been the outbreak of the crisis in which the world is still immersed.

In his social encyclical, Benedict XVI precisely identified the roots of a crisis that is not only economic and financial but above all moral in nature. In fact, as the Pontiff notes, to function correctly the economy needs ethics; and not just of any kind but one that is people-centred. He goes on to denounce the role played by utilitarianism and individualism and the responsibilities of those who have adopted and promoted them as the parameters for the optimal behaviour of all economic and political agents who operate and interact in the social context. But Benedict XVI also identifies and denounces a new ideology, that of “technocracy”.




Some important date(s) this week:
http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Saints/ByDate.aspx

See website for biographies of Saints and Blessed celebrated this week.

Wednesday, December 7.  Inter-Faith Prayer Service, 100th Anniversary of St. Elizabeh’s Hospital.  Cathedral of St. Columba.  5 pm.  http://www.hmpartners.org/




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Thursday, December 8.  Feast of the Immaculate Conception   A feast called the Conception of Mary arose in the Eastern Church in the seventh century. It came to the West in the eighth century. In the 11th century it received its present name, the Immaculate Conception. In the 18th century it became a feast of the universal Church.
In 1854, Pius IX solemnly proclaimed: “The most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instant of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin.”
It took a long time for this doctrine to develop. While many Fathers and Doctors of the Church considered Mary the greatest and holiest of the saints, they often had difficulty in seeing Mary as sinless—either at her conception or throughout her life. This is one of the Church teachings that arose more from the piety of the faithful than from the insights of brilliant theologians. Even such champions of Mary as Bernard and Thomas Aquinas could not see theological justification for this teaching.
Two Franciscans, William of Ware and Blessed John Duns Scotus, helped develop the theology. They point out that Mary’s Immaculate Conception enhances Jesus’ redemptive work. Other members of the human race are cleansed from original sin after birth. In Mary, Jesus’ work was so powerful as to prevent original sin at the outset.

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Friday, December 9.   St. Juan Diego  (1474-1548)    Thousands of people gathered in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe July 31, 2002, for the canonization of Juan Diego, to whom the Blessed Mother appeared in the 16th century. Pope John Paul II celebrated the ceremony at which the poor Indian peasant became the Church’s first saint indigenous to the Americas.
The Holy Father called the new saint “a simple, humble Indian” who accepted Christianity without giving up his identity as an Indian. “In praising the Indian Juan Diego, I want to express to all of you the closeness of the church and the pope, embracing you with love and encouraging you to overcome with hope the difficult times you are going through,” John Paul said. Among the thousands present for the event were members of Mexico’s 64 indigenous groups.
First called Cuauhtlatohuac (“The eagle who speaks”), Juan Diego’s name is forever linked with Our Lady of Guadalupe because it was to him that she first appeared at Tepeyac hill on December 9, 1531. The most famous part of his story is told in connection with the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe (December 12). After the roses gathered in his tilma were transformed into the miraculous image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, however, little more is said about Juan Diego.
In time he lived near the shrine constructed at Tepeyac, revered as a holy, unselfish and compassionate catechist who taught by word and especially by example.
During his 1990 pastoral visit to Mexico, Pope John Paul II confirmed the long-standing liturgical cult in honor of Juan Diego, beatifying him. Twelve years later he was proclaimed a saint.



SHARING HOPE IN HARD ECONOMIC TIMES.

Remember those who struggle to find a means to buy a gift for their loved ones due to unemployment, economic strain and/or other circumstances.  Consider making a donation to Catholic Charities or offering to purchase a gift for some child.  Contact Nikole Baringer for more information.


 PAPAL INTENTIONS:   December 2011

General Intention: Peace among All Peoples.
That all peoples may grow in harmony and peace through mutual understanding and respect.


Missionary Intention: That children and young people may be messengers of the Gospel and that they may be respected and preserved from all violence and exploitation.

Corporal Works of Mercy:  The seven practices of charity toward our neighbor
  1. Feed the hungry
  2. Give drink to the thirsty
  3. Clothe the naked
  4. Shelter the homeless
  5. Visit the sick
  6. Visit those in prison
  7. Bury the dead




Note: Please consider joining our
FACEBOOK CAUSE http://apps.facebook.com/causes/106889 
FACEBOOK GROUP https://www.facebook.com/pages/Catholic-Charities-Diocese-of-Youngstown/138817639487339
TWITTER account, CCDOY, http://twitter.com/CCDOY
for current updates and calls to action that we can all use. 

See our website at www.catholiccharitiesyoungstown.org for links to the our ministries and services.    
For more information on Catholic Social Doctrine and its connection to our ministries, visit my blog at:  http://corbinchurchthinking.blogspot.com/