Sunday, October 21, 2012

MONDAY MORNING MISSION MEDITATION for the week of October 21, 2012



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://www.cccds.net/clientimages/45020/serve.jpg

On Sunday, (Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time, http://usccb.org/bible/readings/102112.cfm)   we read from the Gospel of  Mark how Jesus shows the difference discipleship makes.  He challenges his followers to be servants to each other, and not to lord over others.  Jesus demands a new “way” of being and doing.  He calls each of us to be willing to give our all, even in sacrifice, for love of each other.  

Catholic Charities http://www.ccdoy.org  remains a visible symbol of that love poured out and shared.  We are called to be servants of those we serve.  Learning from St. Vincent de Paul and St. Louise de Marillac, who instructed their congregational leaders, to remember that the poor are our masters, and we, as followers of Christ, are called to serve each other, and to serve with great respect those who are poor among us.  These two saints minced no words; sometimes it would be a difficult path to follow.  But through God’s grace we can be open to the Spirit to be a loving servant to each person we encounter.  That is truly a gift of love that the world always needs.




Reflection from Church Documents and Official Statements

Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship - Forming Consciences For Faithful Citizenship - Part II - Applying Catholic Teaching To Major Issues: A Summary Of Policy Positions Of The United States Conference Of Catholic Bishops

Global Solidarity


  • 88.
U.S. policy should promote religious liberty and other basic human rights. The use of torture must be rejected as fundamentally incompatible with the dignity of the human person and ultimately counterproductive in the effort to combat terrorism.

  • The United States should provide political and financial support for beneficial United Nations programs and reforms, for other international bodies, and for international law, so that together these institutions may become more responsible and responsive agents for addressing global problems.
  • Asylum should be afforded to refugees who hold a well-founded fear of persecution in their homelands. Our country should support protection for persons fleeing persecution through safe haven in other countries, including the United States, especially for unaccompanied children, women, victims of human trafficking, and religious minorities.
  • Our country should be a leader—in collaboration with the international community—in addressing regional conflicts in the Middle East, the Balkans, the Congo, Sudan, Colombia, and West Africa.
  • Leadership on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is an especially urgent priority. The United States should actively pursue comprehensive negotiations leading to a just and peaceful resolution that respects the legitimate claims and aspirations of both Israelis and Palestinians, ensuring security for Israel, a viable state for Palestinians, respect for Lebanon's sovereignty, and peace in the region.
  • While the Holy See and our Conference have raised serious moral questions regarding the war in Iraq, as bishops we urgently call on our country to work with the international community to seek a "responsible transition" in Iraq and to address the human consequences of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Defending human life, building peace, combating poverty and despair, and protecting freedom and human rights are not only moral imperatives—they are wise national priorities that will make our nation and world safer.






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, October 22   Blessed Pope John Paul II   1920-2005

“Open wide the doors to Christ,” urged John Paul II during the homily at the Mass when he was installed as pope in 1978.

Born in Wadowice, Poland, Karol Jozef Wojtyla had lost his mother, father and older brother before his 21st birthday. Karol’s promising academic career at Krakow’s Jagiellonian University was cut short by the outbreak of World War II. While working in a quarry and a chemical factory, he enrolled in an “underground” seminary in Kraków. Ordained in 1946, he was immediately sent to Rome where he earned a doctorate in theology.

Back in Poland, a short assignment as assistant pastor in a rural parish preceded his very fruitful chaplaincy for university students. Soon he earned a doctorate in philosophy and began teaching that subject at Poland’s University of Lublin.

Communist officials allowed him to be appointed auxiliary bishop of Krakow in 1958, considering him a relatively harmless intellectual. They could not have been more wrong!

He attended all four sessions of Vatican II and contributed especially to its Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World. Appointed as archbishop of Krakow in 1964, he was named a cardinal three years later.

Elected pope in October 1978, he took the name of his short-lived, immediate predecessor. Pope John Paul II was the first non-Italian pope in 455 years. In time, he made pastoral visits to 124 countries, including several with small Christian populations.

He promoted ecumenical and interfaith initiatives, especially the 1986 Day of Prayer for World Peace in Assisi. He visited Rome’s Main Synagogue and the Western Wall in Jerusalem; he also established diplomatic relations between the Holy See and Israel. He improved Catholic-Muslim relations and in 2001 visited a mosque in Damascus, Syria.

The Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, a key event in John Paul’s ministry, was marked by special celebrations in Rome and elsewhere for Catholics and other Christians. Relations with the Orthodox Churches improved considerably during his ministry as pope.

“Christ is the center of the universe and of human history” was the opening line of his 1979 encyclical, Redeemer of the Human Race. In 1995, he described himself to the United Nations General Assembly as “a witness to hope.”

His 1979 visit to Poland encouraged the growth of the Solidarity movement there and the collapse of communism in central and eastern Europe 10 years later. He began World Youth Day and traveled to several countries for those celebrations. He very much wanted to visit China and the Soviet Union but the governments in those countries prevented that.

One of the most well-remembered photos of his pontificate was his one-on-one conversation in 1983 with Mehmet Ali Agca, who had attempted to assassinate him two years earlier.

In his 27 years of papal ministry, John Paul wrote 14 encyclicals and five books, canonized 482 saints and beatified 1,338 people.

In the last years of his life, he suffered from Parkinson’s disease and was forced to cut back on some of his activities.

Pope Benedict XVI beatified John Paul II on May 1, 2011, Divine Mercy Sunday.




CHARITIES NEWSBYTES

Read Brian R Corbin’s Reflection on the Year of Faith  https://www.catholiccharitiesusa.org/document.doc?id=3200&erid=5364625   published on-line by Catholic Charities USA

MEN WHO COOK:  Stark County Saturday, November 10th 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Barrette Business and Community Center Walsh University
All proceeds benefit Catholic Charities’ Emergency Assistance and First Step for Family Support Programs
Tickets:  $40.00 each, open seating.
Reserved table seating is available on a first come first serve basis only. You must call the office to reserve your table prior to making an online payment.
(330) 491-0896  or visit http://ccdoy.org/slider/stark-countys-8th-annual-men-who-cook/




 PAPAL INTENTIONS:   October 2012

General Intention: New Evangelization. That the New Evangelization may progress in the oldest Christian countries.

Missionary Intention: World Mission Day. That the celebration of World Mission Day may result in a renewed commitment to evangelization.





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 http://www.ccdoy.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/
 

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