Catholic Schools: The Good News in Education

This week is the Catholic Schools Week in America. This year, the American Catholic schools got an appreciation from our politicians:

WASHINGTON (CNS) – The House of Representatives unanimously passed a resolution Jan. 23 praising Catholic schools "for their ongoing contributions to education and for the key role they play in promoting and ensuring a brighter, stronger future for this nation."
[...]
Noting that more than a quarter of the students in Catholic schools are from minority backgrounds and 14 percent are non-Catholics, the resolution said the schools "produce students strongly dedicated to their faith, values, families and communities by providing an intellectually stimulating environment rich in spiritual, character and moral development."

The theme of Catholic Schools Week in 2007 is "Catholic Schools: The Good News in Education."

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That was nice of the House of Representatives. My older siblings went to Catholic schools. I went to a public school. We were a big Catholic family and my parents couldn't afford to put me in a Catholic school. I'm happy with my public education though. It made me the person I am today.

Faith, Hope and Love According to St. Paul

From the first letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians:

Brothers and sisters:
Love is patient, love is kind.
It is not jealous, it is not pompous,
it is not inflated, it is not rude,
it does not seek its own interests,
it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury,
it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth.
It bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails.
If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing;
if tongues, they will cease;
if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing.
For we know partially and we prophesy partially,
but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.
When I was a child, I used to talk as a child,
think as a child, reason as a child;
when I became a man, I put aside childish things.
At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror,
but then face to face.
At present I know partially;

then I shall know fully, as I am fully known.
So faith, hope, love remain, these three;
but the greatest of these is love.

The Liar Sermon

A priest wound up the services one morning by saying, ''Next Sunday I am going to preach on the subject of liars. And in this connection, as a preparation for my discourse, I would like you all to read the seventeenth chapter of Mark''.

On the following Sunday, the priest rose to begin and said, ''Now, then, all of you who have done as I requested and read the seventeenth chapter of Mark, please raise your hands.''

Nearly every hand in the congregation went up.

Then said the priest, ''You are the people I want to talk to. There is no seventeenth chapter of Mark.''

Late Pope John Paul II Audio Cards

I never hide my deep love to the late Pope John Paul II. And now, I'm jealous that people in Italy can get this cool audio card and I can't:


Source: ANSA News

Here's the story of the audio card as reported by ANSA:

ROME (ANSA) - The enduring popularity of the late Pope John Paul II has been underlined yet again by the runaway success of a new gadget offering a blessing from the Polish pontiff at the press of a button.

Offered as a free gift with a new Catholic monthly, the palm-size device is comprised of a small picture of John Paul mounted on an electronic card which has his voice recorded on it digitally.

When pressure is applied, the user hears the pope's voice saying a blessing in Latin.

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So far, more than 35,000 people got a free copy of the audio card. But NOT ME. Still, I'm happy to know that people's love to the late Pope is still alive. That's all it counts.

The Nun and The Consturction Workers

An old nun who was living in a convent next to a Brooklyn construction site noticed the coarse language of the workers and decided to spend some time with them to correct their ways.

She decided she would take her lunch, sit with the workers and talk with them. She put her sandwich in a brown bag and walked over to the spot where the men were eating.

She walked up to the group and with a big smile said: "Do you men know Jesus Christ?"

They shook their heads and looked at each other. One of the workers looked up into the steelwork and yelled "Anybody up there know Jesus Christ?"

One of the steelworkers yelled down a "Yea. Why"?

The worker yelled back "His wife's here with his lunch."

The Priestly Chic, Gorgeous Georg

Any time the media mentions The Vatican, I expect some bad news. This time it's different. The buzz is about The Pope's handsome secretary Father Georg Gänswein:

Priestly chic has hit the catwalk in Milan, with Pope Benedict's pin-up personal secretary inspiring the latest collection by Donatella Versace.

Father Georg Gänswein, or Gorgeous Georg to his admirers, represents a triumph of "more brain and less muscle", according to Miss Versace, who sent blond male models down the catwalk with clerical black jackets and priestly white shirts.

"I was certainly inspired by him," she said. "I find his austerity very elegant. It is the right moment to show an ethical and spiritual man, free from all those pointless details. I also like Gregorian garb." She said her ideal man has biceps but "looks for his inside quality and trains it up, the muscles of the soul."

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He's definitely handsome. I'm sure many girls have crush on him. Even better, he knows it:

The austere and conservative priest, whose hair is now raffishly flecked with grey, fanned the flames of his female fans, who call themselves the Georgiste, by admitting that he had crushes on girls when he was younger. "My senses are healthy, and those that have healthy senses use them," he said.

Welcome to the German manhood :-)

Back To Church Campaign On YouTube

The YouTube site is popular for its weird and wild video clips. The Rt Rev. Jonathan Gledhill, the Bishop of Lichfield in the U.K. has decided to use the site to broadcast his annual Evangelism Sunday message. The Scotsman reports:

A CHURCH leader has turned to a video-sharing website to encourage more people to attend Sunday services.

The Rt Rev Jonathan Gledhill, the Bishop of Lichfield, posted his first Sunday message of 2007 on YouTube, along with recordings of similar sermons from 2005 and 2006.
[...]
His spokesman, Gavin Drake, said: "The diocese designates the Sunday after Epiphany as Evangelism Sunday and the Bishop distributes a tape to encourage congregation members to consider the part they have to play in taking the good news of Jesus Christ to their communities, friends and neighbours.

"This year, for the first time, the bishop's message will be placed on the community video-sharing website YouTube."

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According to the article, the bishop is trying to reach out to the young people who don't attend church. I doubt it will work with young people. Still, I believe it's a good idea to broadcast his messages on YouTube as it has become THE MEDIUM these days.

Breast Cancer and Prayer

It wasn't that long ago when a study claimed praying with sick people have no benefits. A new research team has a different opinion:

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Praying online in a support group may help women with breast cancer cope with the disease more effectively, a new study shows.

Dr. Bret Shaw of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and colleagues found that breast cancer patients who used a higher percentage of religion-related words in their communications with an Internet support group had lower levels of negative emotions, better functional well-being, and more confidence in their ability to deal with their illness.

"Breast cancer patients who want to pray can use online support groups as a place to cope with their illness with other people going through similar situations," Shaw told Reuters Health. "Our data suggest that this might make you feel better."

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From a personal experience, group prayer helps. It can make a cold room feel so warm. But, that's just my opinion.

Sisters of Providence Recycle Christmas Trees

Nuns never fail to amaze me when it comes to thinking outside the box. Here's the latest:

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - A religious order wants to give old Christmas trees a new use.

The Sisters of Providence, which operates St. Mary-of-the-Woods College, is looking for donations of Christmas trees that it can recycle into wood chips for mulch and fuel for the school's new biomass boiler.

The college's new biomass boiler runs on alternative energy sources instead of fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas. The recycled trees will fuel the boiler, producing the steam that heats the college campus a few miles west of Terre Haute.

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Isn't that cool? They not only recycle the trees. They actually generate energy. You may guess it. This process will save the college money with gas prices going up these days.

First Short Break of The Year

I'm sorry for not blogging since Christmas. I'm on a spritual blogging break until next week.

I had a great 2006. I hope 2007 would continue to be as good as 2006.

Happy 2007 everyone.