At the end of an era...

Finances are never easy.  There are always some bill to pay, some thing to be fixed, some unexpected cost. Ostensibly, due to financial difficulty at the parish, I have been let go as of June 30, 2017.  May all the parishioners of Notre Dame, and friends of Notre Dame, find great blessings in their lives.  May the Lord be with you.

So as you may know....

Our Pastor, Fr. Michael Gass, has been granted retirement from Notre Dame parish.  As you can imagine, we are in for a little bit of a change.  If you were not aware, then you should be aware our new pastor, Msgr. Ed Buelt, is current pastor of Our Lady of Loreto in Foxfield, CO. 

Interesting, I, your humble Director of Religious Education, have known, then, Fr. Ed Buelt.  When St. Thomas Seminary closed in Denver, where the current St. John Vianney Seminary stands, and before the new seminaries opened, Fr. Ed held a young adults' Mass each Sunday evening.  It was a great community where we spent many hours together in prayer, but also in joyfully playing games and with food as well, if I remember correctly.

It remains to be seen what will change.

Give thanks for your Freedom... while we still have it...

This was posted yesterday, and I can not believe what our brothers and sisters in the Lord are suffering.  They are descending into what was once the experience of the early Christians in Rome, well watch the clip:


It is important that we pray for the strength and safety, and the assistance of the Guardian Angels for these our brothers and sisters in the Lord.  What if such a situation arose here in America? In Denver?  Would we have the courage and love to step forward to defend the Lord's people? 

And what now, while the world slides deeper into sin, will you do nothing?  Marijuana is now legal and contraception has become so addictive to many people who live a life of promiscuity?  Do we do anything for them now?   Guns can be fought very readily with other guns, but only virtue can combat sin in a nation without a prolific experience of guns. Do you and I have the courage to take up that virtue and to reject and fight sinfulness wherever we find it?  Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against sin and temptation.  Get in the fight....

We are blessed with Fr. Michael Gass!

As you may know, Fr. Michael Gass refocused our community on the Divine Eucaharistic presence of our Lord when he arrived here.  Be sure to thank him this week, as Bishop Poprocki, is now agreeing, and implicitly honoring, the actions of Fr. Michael when he restored Jesus to the center of our worship. 

Infiltration by well-meaning people?

I am currently going through a few videos that have been here in the Parish Religious Education Center for some time.  Interesting as there is a video series known as"The 3rd Millenium: Vatican II - The Civilization of Love."  As I watch these I am truly saddened at these videos which came out in the mid 1980s.

The video on "The Liturgy" actually tried to prove that the Church was trying to dissassemble to Traditional Latin Mass and the liturgical actions of centuries of Christian belief.  At one point, the commentator actually says (something to the effect of), "The question is not why have we turned the altars around, but why were they up against a wall in the first place."  This is an unfortunate and gravely mistaken reading of the Documents of Vatican II.  It is quite clear as one reads the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy or Sacrosanctum Concilium that this is not something which the Council sought to do.  It is not even mentioned.  In fact, recently a blogger known as Matt Fradd noted this in one of his columns.  Yet in this video the deceptively make it sound as if this were almost the expressed desire  of the Catholic Church.   Moreover, it goes on to basically make the case the Liturgy, and in particular the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, is reducible to a mere "meal which Jesus left us."  Lastly, it laments that we can be comfortable with a "human jesus, but a divine Jesus makes us uncomfortable."

These elements of the video make it clear that the Catholic Faith is not about receving the Gift of Faith from God, the objective revelation and teaching of Jesus handed on in the Church.  Rather, the producers of this video seek to have us only worship what we understand.  We should, it seem, not seek the mystery of God, the intimate life of God, but we should be happy enough with only that which we can handle.  What a sad version of Catholicism this creates.

Over and over again this same video admits that "the Mystery" of God is removed from the Liturgy.  Yet, this is the very nature of what Jesus came to reveal for us in the Mystery of the Holy Trinity.  The very interior and intimate life of God is what we are invited into in the Sacrament of Baptism.  Now, according to this video, with the New Order of Mass after Vatican II we seem to have no need of mystery in Liturgy. A more false notion could not be found.

As if this weren't bad enough, the next video I reviewed in this series is proposing to show Mary in a "new light."  There are many subtleties in this presentation that may be beyond most average Catholics, however for myself as a trained theologian there are many distinctions that must be made which are not and presumptions which are spoken that are not clear.  Beyond that, it should suffice to point out that the Nun who presents this presentation on Mary is the one about whom Cardinal Gerhard Mueller, the head of the Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith, criticized the LCWR (the Leadership Conference of Women Religious - which is a leadership group that heads the many of the congregations of nuns in America) because they honored this dissenting theologian. 

As I continue to review these videos, I can't help but notice it is for videos like this, which are published by a company called "Parish Video Library", that so many Catholics, either in leadership roles or in the pews, who heard and accepted these views were and are the reason that so many Catholics no longer believe the Catholic Faith or erroneously hold positions which are contrary to the Catholic Faith.  It is so much easier for us as human beings for us to convince ourselves that we understand the faith when it makes sense to us or is easier for us to follow, rather than understand that the gift of Catholic Faith and challenge which it offers us in our human lives.  Becoming a Saint is not possible by any other means than by the cross of faith and abandonment to God's teaching for mankind in the Holy Catholic Church.  May we not seek the way that is wide and easy, but the narrow way that is the way of sacrifice and obedience to Christ.

"My sheep know MY voice"

The writers of the following article are WRONG on the Catholic practice of praying the Rosary.  They also erroneously call the only Church Jesus established (the Catholic Church) "heretics".  As well, they mistakenly seem to implicate all of the successors of the apostles (the bishops of the Holy Catholic Church) as "false teachers" - which maybe the case in some rare instances, but not ALL.  Moreover, they refer to "the Catholic's angry God" - WHICH IS NOT THE CASE!  Nevertheless, with so many people considering going to see "The Son of God," one wonders if it should not be approached with more caution.

THIS IS HOLLYWOOD AFTER ALL!

The Bible is far more profound in its text than in any interpretation of man - this is precisely why we have Scripture reading as the secondary focus of EVERY MASS, the first being "the bread of life which came down from heaven (see Jn 6:1-66)." It is also the reason the Catholic Church approves translations for her children, so that we may get the most faithful texts - which any scholar of Greek or Hebrew could tell you. 

Nevertheless, consider the main point of this article: namely, the movie "The Son of God" may NOT be what you think it is.

http://thelasthiker.wordpress.com/2014/02/23/the-son-of-god-movie-is-not-what-we-think-do-you-know-the-voice-of-your-master/

For further witness, consider this article written by an apparently Protestant author (for the teaching about being covered over by Christ's grace at the end): http://blogs.christianpost.com/abandoned-to-christ/movie-review-son-of-god-is-most-certainly-not-the-son-of-god-20297/

As Catholics, we must be leery of following false Christs. Many have come, and many more will before the end.  Be attentive!

Your life will change...

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I want to announce and encourage you to mark you calendar now for Notre Dame's Parish Lenten Mission.  After so many centuries of wisdom and great Saints who came from the Dominican Order, Notre Dame has asked the Order to send us a priest who would come to share the Wisdom and Love of God for us.

Fr. Chris Saliga currently serves as assistant novice master for the Dominican Province of St. Joseph.  He has previously served in campus ministry at Aquinas House at Dartmouth College and as university chaplain at Walsh University; he has served as postulant director and assistant novice master for the Dominican Vicariate of Eastern African; and he has served as health care chaplain and ethicist with the Dominican Friars Health Care Ministry of New York, Saint Catherine of Siena Priory.

He has taught philosophical bioethics at Walsh University; he has taught courses on human freedom and human happiness for the Waterman Institute at Dartmouth College; he has facilitated ethical reflections grounded in natural law for interested Medical Students at Dartmouth College; he has taught various clinical rotations for Franciscan University of Steubenville Department of Nursing; he has served on the Hospital for Special Surgery Ethics Committee; and he has served on the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee at the University of Akron.

He has presented on a variety of topics in health care ethics and spirituality at various hospitals, universities, and churches; he has written on select topics in health care ethics and spirituality; and he has led numerous retreats, days of recollection, and missions in schools, religious communities, and parishes.

Father Chris is a military veteran having served as a United States Army combat medic and a paratrooper, and later as a United States Navy nurse corps officer with both active Naval and reserve Marine Corps branches.   

Fr. Chris comes very highly recommended, and I pray that you will join the Parish in looking forward to  hearing his message of God love in a Mission that will be focused on the theme:

The Cross: Our Lenten Journey to Eternal Life.  This will take place from Saturday March 22nd until Wednesday March 26th.  Fr. Saliga will preach all Sunday Masses (including the Sat. evening mass), he will preach each morning at the morning masses, and then offer a reflection each night beginning on Sunday Mar. 23rd until Wednesday Mar. 26th at 7pm.  Come and consider the love and mercy of God for each of our human souls and bodies! 

To learn a little more about Fr. Chris, here is an explanation of some of the things he has done: