Catholicism Project

So, there's a pretty neat project underway by Fr. Robert Barron, a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago, called the Catholicism Project. According to his Web site, Word on Fire, "this epic series will be one of the most innovative productions ever to promote the Catholic faith to the world. Our plan is to go from Jerusalem to Rome to Mexico City and beyond - and use art, architecture, literature, music and all the riches of the Catholic tradition to tell an inspiring story and draw people into the faith." Here's the trailer:

Catholicism Trailer from Nancy Ross on Vimeo

Looks like a pretty awesome production! The main presenter, Fr. Bob, as he likes to be referred to, is a great guy. I've featured him on several podcasts in the past, and we've used some of his video material in our evangelization work. Let's ask the Father in Heaven to pour out his grace and abundant blessing on Fr. Bob's work and his efforts to bring the light of faith to this world! Amen!

Reflections on my ChristLife Internship

"At the heart of catechesis we find, in essence, a person, the person of Jesus of Nazareth." - John Paul II

The Lord has taught me a great deal throughout my year internship at ChristLife, primarily in a deepening relationship and heart to serve the number one living person in my life - Jesus Christ! It is so incredible to look back on my life and how much the Lord has done and where He has brought me. During my senior year of high school I experienced the love and mercy of Jesus in a such a real way that there was no turning back! I needed to share it!

After serving a year of National Evangelization Teams (NET Ministries), I went to Steubenville followed by Towson for a Nursing degree, but was still unsure of what I wanted to do with my life. I began my internship at ChristLife last fall, while studying at Towson.

This past year at ChristLife was an eye-opening experience of the aching hunger this world has for Jesus, not in theoretical way, but to know and love Him as a real person in their lives. I don't think words can express how awesome it is to be used by the Lord to tell people about the one thing they desire the most and to see Him transform their lives. That is the heart of ChristLife's ministry, and the Lord has really blessed it and I've been able to witness so many lives renewed by Jesus during this past year.

The most memberable aspect of my internship at ChristLife was beginning every work day together in prayer, praising the Lord and asking Him for all we needed that day and giving ourselves and our efforts to Him. My experiences during prayer and ministry at ChristLife lead me to desiring and asking the Lord to use me to serve His Church in a direct way with my career and whole life. This year the Lord opened all the doors for me to change my major to Theology and transfer to Ave Maria University for the remainder of my undergrad studies.

I am so grateful that Jesus brought me to ChristLife this past year and used it to show me what I am truly passionate about and how I can use that for His Kingdom! This experience impacted my life in so many ways, by being a place of encouragement, growth and challenging me to pray, to use my gifts and talents for the Lord, and to have courage to share His love with others! I am excited for the future interns at ChristLife and the awesome things the Lord has for them through this incredible experience!

Catholics in the Media

It is encouraging to see how the Church can use the media to evangelize, and how many people it can reach. Tom Peterson is the founder of Catholics Come Home and uses television and the Internet to reach alienated Catholics and draw them back home to the Church. Zenit News Agency came out with an article about Tom Peterson's efforts and the amazing results they are producing:

TV Ads Bringing Catholics Home
6,000 Respond to Phoenix Campaign

By David Hartline

PHOENIX, Arizona, JULY 8, 2008 (Zenit.org).- For many who have left the Catholic Church, there is often a great desire to come home. However, fear and guilt often lead many to put off the gnawing decision to return to the Church. Not knowing where to turn, many who were once faithful feel lost and ashamed.

Tom Peterson, founder of Catholicscomehome.org, has found television and the Internet to be just the place to reach out to those wishing to come back to the Church.

Earlier this year Peterson tested his methods and ideas using an advertising campaign geared toward the 3.5 million who live in the Diocese of Phoenix.

More than 6,000 people inquired and came back to the Church via the Catholicscomehome.org Web site, and many more came back to Catholicism by reporting directly to a parish near their home. One priest reported that 16 people came to him for confession after they saw the television ad.

"One of the biggest surprises for us was the amount of inquiries from those who are not Catholic," said Peterson. "About one quarter of those expressing an interest in the Catholic Church are from those who have seen our commercials or visited our Web site and want to better understand the Catholic Church, or have actually made the decision to become Catholic."
Reasons

When sorting out what caused many to leave the Church, Peterson said "about 90% of those who left the Church can't give a good reason."

He also explained that many can't express why they want to come back. Many simply say they felt something was missing.

"They often want to come home but don't know how. They feel uncomfortable about coming back and don't know what to do -- when to sit and when to stand, and what to pray. We try to ease those fears and remind them of God's desire to see them come home," the director said.

Once they come back to Church, he added, they feel renewed. "They experience the Eucharist again and the power of confession. They feel their hunger for the truth has been met and a feeling of joy overcomes them."

When asked why he thought his brief television commercials had such an impact, Peterson said: "Our commercials are a basic reminder of who we are, the Church Jesus founded, the Church that Jesus entrusted to Peter and every pope who followed him.

"We are the Church that gave the world the Bible. When we quickly explain these facts and use the Bible to do it, people really respond. They admit that either they never really knew this or simply forget."

Testimonies

Peterson said he is often greeted with surprise as to how well Catholicscomehome.org has done. Several testimonies sent to his site show the impact it has had on viewers.

After seeing the commercials on Phoenix television, a visitor named Michael wrote, "It is highly effective and so very much needed at this time."

Another from an Angela said, "I've been away from the Church for over 35 years and over the past 20 years I have become agnostic. [...] For me to actually look this site up from a TV ad says a lot."

For some the commercials brought a great sense of joy. David wrote, "I wanted to commend you on the commercial. Wow. That was really well done. I'm so proud to be Catholic!"

Even non-Catholics wrote into the Catholicscomehome.org Web site to praise their efforts. Jean said, "I am not Catholic, but I think your commercials are extremely well done, tasteful and persuading."

Still another e-mailer, Deborah, was so impressed that she wrote, "I am interested in the Catholic Church. What do I have to do to convert?"

Beginning

The project has even caught the attention of the Holy See. Recently, Peterson said, he discussed the initiative with Cardinal John Foley, prefect of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem, and Archbishop Claudio Celli, prefect of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications.

While the results have surpassed his expectations, Peterson explains that this is only just the beginning. The group has plans to launch similar campaigns this winter in St. Louis, Lincoln, Colorado Springs, Sacramento, Atlanta and Fargo.

"We are ramping up to 2010," he added, "when we hope to start a national advertising campaign starting with the 2010 Super Bowl."

Peterson takes no credit for his success. He simply says: "The world needs Jesus. We need to remind others how much they are loved by Jesus and needed by our Church family."

Share Jesus!

“No believer in Christ, no institution of the Church, can avoid this supreme duty: to proclaim Christ to all peoples”. – John Paul the Great

Our former Pope, John Paul the Great, challenges us to step outside of ourselves and to reach out to everyone we meet with the love of Christ. He doesn't say that this duty is one of priests or religious alone, but of all believers in Christ! This has really challenged me in my faith to be more open to those opportunities in normal daily life to tell someone about Jesus.

Sometimes even though we may desire to tell others about Christ, we may not know where to begin or how to go about it. Ultimately that's what the Holy Spirit is for, but there are also practical aspects of evangelization that are worth knowing.

This summer ChristLife and the UMBC Newman club are co-sponsoring a Sharing Christ course for young adults. This course is designed to train Catholics to evangelize, which is so needed in our Church today.

Sharing Christ is composed of seven sessions that include teaching and testimonies, complimented with small group discussion and prayer, weekly prayer, and action assignments. Dave Nodar and Dianne Martin (who worked for ChristLife from 2001-2007) present the talks:
• Called to Share Christ
• Friendship: A Way to Share Christ
• Sharing the Journey
• The Power to Share Christ
• Presenting the Good News
• By Personal Invitation
• Missionaries - Anytime, Anywhere!

The course will begin at UMBC's interfaith center on Thursday evening, June 12th, from 7:30-9:30, and run for seven weeks. I am very excited to go through this course and to be more open to the call of the Church to evangelize! Please pray for this course and everyone who will attend!

Discovering Christ Session 1

“It's in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.”
- St Paul to the Ephesians 1: 11-12, The Message translation

We began the Discovering Christ course at Our Lady of Perpetual Help last night, April 2nd. Father Erik Arnold, the Pastor at OLPH, gave a talk on the meaning of life and how there's a reason why were are here. He sent out a letter to the leaders of the course to sum it up and invite prayers. The letter is below:

Dear Discovering Christ team, Thank you for making our first night such a great success! The evening flowed well, the food was great, the small group leaders did a great job, the set-up created a wonderful atmosphere, and, above all, I know that much prayer went into the night. Thank you! I believe so deeply in what we are doing and I am grateful to the Lord that you share the same desire to help others experience the Lord in a life-changing way that will also bring about renewal in our parish and Church. Next week Dave Nodar will offer the teaching as we look at the question "Why does Jesus matter?" Please continue to pray, asking the Lord to open hearts to conversion. Thank you again for your hard work and dedication! You are in my prayers
In Christ,
Fr. Arnold

All in all I'd say it was a great night - good food, songs, fellowship with our small groups, and a profound teaching! During the small group discussion the Associate Pastor, Fr. Larry Adamczyk, went to the Church and prayed for each of the leaders by name. Prayers are definitely the power behind this course, please keep us in your prayers!

Search engine worth knowing about

If you have a question about the faith and you are sick of spending extra time rummaging through secular search engines to find what you are looking for, try this new Catholic search engine called "Faith Knowledge". This site was developed by Peter Berners-Lee, who is a freelance consultant in theology, science and technology. It has five categories to search within: Bible, Catechism, Councils, Popes, and Summa. You can type in a search word or phrase and specify the category to find specific, authoritative documents on Catholic teaching and scripture.

Below is a picture of Peter who developed this site:

This is a great resource to take advantage of! Thank you Peter for working so diligently to make this available to the public.

Pink Flamingoes and the Pearl of Great Price

When I came to you, brethren, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power. St. Paul - I Corinthians 2:1-5

When I was a young boy my family traveled down the east coast of the U.S., from Maryland to Florida, to go on vacation. Back in those days we didn't have the interstate highways we now have and there were places where you had to travel along two lane roads that ran through small towns. I can remember in some of those areas you would see homes where the owners had decorated the yards with all kinds of things. Mirror balls, pin wheels, antique (abandoned) cars, statues of all kinds of things, dwarfs, deer, people and pink flamingo's. Now some of those lawns were so filled with 'decorative items' that it was hard to figure out how to get from the road to the house! Some home owners had gone even farther in their extravagant decorating and had affixed all kinds of things to the front porch walls. Flags, hubcaps, beware of dog signs, and other creative wall mountings! Kind a like the yard, some homes had so much stuff on the wall that you couldn't even see where the front door was!


Sometimes we as Catholic Christians feel compelled to immediately share with friends who, perhaps do not know the Lord or are not church goers, about the treasures of the Church,- Mass, the sacraments, Mary and the saints, Apostolic succession, etc. We feel the need to get it all out in front of them immediately. Sort of like the yards with the pink flamingos. By attempting to get it all out there immediately we run the risk of not establishing first things first. We can easily put the horse before the cart. We certainly want people to know all about the treasures of the Church, but we want them to know first and foremost about the Pearl of Great Price, who is the person that our faith is all about. We want them to know the reason for all of the wonders of the Church, His Body! When we share with others about the joy of knowing Jesus Christ personally as our Lord, as the center of our lives and of all creation, it puts first things first. We want them to know the way into house of God, and Jesus is that way! We want them to know the meaning of life which is found in union with the Trinity through what our Lord has done for all by his life, death and resurrection! If in fact our friends come to know the love of God in Jesus our Lord, the forgiveness of sins and, power of the Spirit given in baptism, then they will hunger to learn more and, live in the truths of the Church!

Let's growing in learning to share about the Lord Jesus, and look for opportunities to tell others why He is the pearl of great price and the joy of our lives!

“This is the principal proclamation of the Church, which remains unchanged down the ages. The Christian faith, therefore, is not an ideology but a personal encounter with the Crucified and Risen Christ. From this experience, both individual and communitarian, flows a new way of thinking and acting: an existence marked by love is born, as the saints testify.”
Pope Benedict XVI, Parish of God the Merciful Father, Rome, March 26, 2006

The Vatican on Evangelization

The Vatican recently issued an important statement regarding the missionary mandate of the Catholic Church. Such a document helps clarify many areas of dispute over the last few decades with regard to the relationship between evangelization and ecumenism. I will begin to comment upon this by saying that anyone who has come into a personal knowledge of the absolutely boundless and infinite mercy of God as revealed by Jesus desires to share it--for the simple reason that Jesus is Savior. What does this mean? It means He is the one upon whom we can cast our fears and receive healing, rather than the judgement we all too often expect from God. Let us take a moment to survey the landscape of these issues to see where we can go wrong.

These days, the term "proselytization" gets a bad reputation. Although the dictionary definition seems benign, perhaps we can elaborate on the legitimate concerns with regard to this mistaken form of evangelization. In Matthew 24:15 Jesus criticizes the Pharisees for making converts. Why? The chief error the pharisees was really no different than that of every clique in society. They sought to create a microcosm of the "righteous" and the "chosen" in society to separate themselves from the outcast. The same as happens everywhere--in exclusive fraternities and sororities, business clubs, and the like. In every case we see people who are imprisoned by their fear of shame and so they seek to create a group set apart in order to place themselves above others in an illusory and futile effort to be saved from disgrace (imagine the "cool kids" at school). When this happens in religion, as it did with the pharisees, it is the worst because it causes us to fashion an image of God rooted in fear, rather than love. Thus any attempt to spread faith that builds upon people's fears and distorted images of God is counter- productive.

We face the other extreme when ecumenism slides into syncretism, in which the essential distinctions that preserve our understanding of God from anything less than infinitely boundless love, are ignored. As a result, we can forget important doctrines like the Incarnation, for example, which reminds us that God's heart is big enough to live with us under our circumstances. Only when our hearts are afraid of humility are we afraid of the Incarnate God.

This brings me to the final point that true evangelization lies in coming to recognize that God's love is far greater than our greatest fears, and going out to share that freedom with others. That is the good news, and all calls to repent from sin and error derive, not from the need to appease an angry God who is about to smite us, but rather from benevolent love that desires to set us free from our habits of enslavement to fear--aka sin. Thus true evangelization shares the good news of Jesus--the Son of God who died on a cross to save us--for the simple reason that it is the most beautiful and liberating message humanity has ever heard.

Archbishop at Theology on Tap

On November 7th, I gathered with about 50 or 60 Young adults at a local bar to meet the new Archbishop of Baltimore. In a session of "Theology on Tap", Archbishop O'Brien gave an address to the young adults gathered. It was an informal way for young adults to meet and receive guidance from their new "shepherd". He was very passionate about young adults and gave us some great insights for growth in our faith and service to the community.


I went with a group of young adults, many of whom attend ChristLife's Following Christ course. We were all very inspired by the Archbishop's words and excited to put those words into action. One thing that really struck me was when the Archbishop commented on his belief that young adults are capable of great self-giving.

I've heard it said that 'the youth of today are to much to themselves, to tied up in their own interests, to selfish. they're not going to listen to a message like this'...and I really resent that...I've spent the last twenty two years working with young people...and I've seen kids in the seminary willing to do anything to serve that neighbor of theirs that wants to seek Christ (Archbishop O'Brien at Theology on Tap, Baltimore).

ChristLife recently podcasted a clip from the Archbishop's address and well as Q&A with the young adults present. Listen in to this latest podcast here, or click play below:

Appreciating the Brethren

I was reading the Intentional Disciples blog this morning and I came across a great statement from Vatican II that is useful reflecting on as we encounter non-Catholic Christians.

"... Catholics must gladly acknowledge and esteem the truly Christian endowments from our common heritage which are to be found among our separated brethren. It is right and salutary to recognize the riches of Christ and virtuous works in the lives of others who are bearing witness to Christ, sometimes even to the shedding of their blood. For God is always wonderful in His works and worthy of all praise."

"Nor should we forget that anything wrought by the grace of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of our separated brethren can be a help to our own edification. Whatever is truly Christian is never contrary to what genuinely belongs to the faith; indeed, it can always bring a deeper realization of the mystery of Christ and the Church."

-Decree on Ecumenism (Unitatis Redintegratio) (1964), I, 4.

Before I comment, the icon above is the apostle Peter (representing the Western - Latin Church) embracing the apostle Andrew (representing the Eastern - Greek Church). Unity has been a project in the Church since the beginning. Read Acts of the Apostles!.

As far as the statement, first, this is great to hear, especially from the teaching authority of the Church! And especially in 1964. Very prophetic.

Now, of course, none of this obviously contradicts our belief in the fullness of truth within the Catholic Church (which we pray all Christians, including us Catholics come to appreciate more and more). But, ultimately, ecumenism is an important part of the fullness of truth. Read what JPII wrote about it.

As far as our witness to non-Catholic Christians I think we need to always first recognize the enormity of our unity in Christ first and then, as we feel led, move forward with dialog and witness.
Our witness and our speech needs to be seasoned with salt though and should recognize that much disunity in the Church stems from miscommunication. Click on the above banner to access a really great Web site which is devoted to "building bridges and healing division with Evangelicals." This site explains Catholic truth in a way that is easy to understand for non-Catholics. Each article ends with the following prayer to Jesus for unity.

Lord Jesus, let Your prayer of unity for Christians
become a reality, in Your way
we have absolute confidence
that you can bring your people together
we give you absolute permission to move
Amen.

And Action!

I don't know about you but I don't get the opportunity to be in movies very often, so when I had the chance to go to Philly to be an extra in a new movie called Our Lady of Victory I was pretty excited. Although doing "extra" work was not everything I ever hoped and dreamed of, it was a pretty good time. In addition to spending hours waiting to go on set and then hours on set being really quiet and doing the same thing over and over, I had the opportunity to talk about Jesus! Now, it wasn't anything amazing – no mass conversions or anything - but just talking about faith a couple times reminded me of how simple sharing Christ can be.
The first opportunity I had was while on a bus on the way to the set. It was about a 10 min. ride but I had to sit with a stranger. Of course we went through the normal introductions listing who, what, where, ect. and eventually we got into where we work. She is married and does "extra" work a good amount and I introduced myself as a summer intern at ChristLife: a Catholic ministry of Evangelization. From then we continued on, chatting about faith here and there and discussing the importance of knowing Christ as your personal Savior and then sharing your faith. This little chat got me excited for the rest of the day as I looked for more opportunities to share Christ's love.
To my surprise and joy the scene we were shooting was in a Catholic Church. So, sitting quietly for 4 hours on hard wooden pews was a task my body was all too well trained for and of course the setting lent itself to an easy discussion of faith. During the scene the "priest" read from 1 Peter making sure to emphasize the verse “wives submit to your husbands” and that women are the weaker sex and then, according to the script, the priest was to go on giving a very sexist homily. During a short scene break I turned to a girl near me and we discussed the verse from 1 Peter. We shook our heads sadly at the movie's misuse of the verse, recognizing important parts that were dropped and I summarized Ephesians 5:25, 28 which says, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her…In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.” The other women near us overheard our conversation and began chatting on their own about the movie’s misrepresentation of the Catholic Church and the Mass in various ways.
After a few similar conversations I inwardly rejoiced in the Lord for having the chance to talk about faith in an easy casual way. Hopefully I’ll continue to take advantage of the little ways I can share Christ’s love daily on set and off.