The priests, brothers, sisters, and ministries of the Congregation of Holy Cross celebrate this week as one of our own is honored at the 2011 NCEA Convention and Expo in New Orleans.
Fr. Neil Wack, C.S.C., was named a Distinguished Pastor by the National Catholic Education Association (NCEA) for his "outstanding support of Catholic Education.” Fr. Neil is pastor of Christ the King Parish in South Bend, IN, which is the parish in which he was raised. Under Wack's leadership, Christ the King School has maintained its status as one of the flagship schools in the Diocese of Fort Wayne/South Bend. A 1984 graduate of the school and now a local celebrity, Fr. Neil said of the Holy Cross education the parish and school provide: “Our mission and the mission of all Catholic schools is that very basic mission of what Father Basil Moreau said, ‘Educate the mind and the heart, but never educate the mind at the expense of the heart.’ Everything we do is geared towards that, and every decision I make should be looking to that.”
Notre Dame, IN—Lisa M. Hendey, webmaster of CatholicMom.com, self-taught new media entrepreneur, and author of The Handbook for Catholic Moms and the forthcoming A Book of Saints for Catholic Moms, was selected from over 750 entries and invited to the Vatican for an international gathering of 150 Catholic bloggers to be held on May 2, 2011—the day after Pope John Paul II will be beatified in St. Peter’s Square.
According to website of the Vatican’s Pontifical Councils for Culture and Social Communication, the purpose of this meeting is to “allow for a dialogue between bloggers and Church representatives, to listen to the experiences of those who are actively involved in this arena, and to achieve a greater understanding of the needs of that community.” This meeting reinforces the directives of Pope Benedict XVI on World Communications Day 2010, in which the Roman Pontiff challenged priests to “proclaim the Gospel by employing the latest generation of audiovisual resources (images, videos, animated features, blogs, websites) which, alongside traditional means, can open up broad new vistas for dialogue, evangelization and catechesis.”
Upon hearing that she was selected to attend the Vatican blogger meeting, Hendey said, “I am so humbled and honored to be among the 150 bloggers selected. It was an absolute surprise. . . . I'm thrilled to have this tremendous opportunity.” Hendey intends to provide regular updates via her Twitter and Facebook profiles during the Vatican meeting and invites anyone interested to follow her on these platforms.
Hendey, who founded CatholicMom.com in 2000, began as a stay-at-home mom teaching herself web design and blogging platforms, and eventually started the renowned Catholic Moments podcast. Her site welcomed over 500,000 unique visitors to its thriving online community in 2010; these numbers represent visits from people in nearly 200 countries.
Hendey is committed to serving Catholic moms through new media technologies and stated, “Moms who work full time, who parent on their own, who home school children, or who spend time volunteering can connect and learn from each other, pray for each other, and celebrate the beauty of our faith with each other. As the technology continues to grow and evolve, so does our commitment to using it as a Church to care for the faithful.”
Based in Fresno, California, Hendey routinely leads workshops and lectures around the country, encouraging Catholic moms in their vocations and teaching priests, diocesan and parish staff, and lay ministers how to integrate new media technologies into their ministries.
Notre Dame, IN—Just in time for Holy Week 2011, Ave Maria Press has released two new ways to pray the Stations of the Cross in Spanish. Stations of the Cross, an app for iPhone and iPod Touch, was initially released in 2010, but has now been updated with a Spanish-language option, enabling Spanish-speaking users to prayerfully walk in solidarity with Jesus on his agonizing Way of the Cross—from his last tortured moments in the Garden of Gethsemane to his death and burial. The Stations of the Cross iPhone app is the perfect pocket devotional, particularly during this Lenten season.
Blessed Basil Moreau, founder of the Congregation of Holy Cross, wrote that “human life is like a great way of the cross. This way of the cross is everywhere and we travel it every day, even in spite of ourselves and without being aware of it.” Has Redimido al Mundo, the Spanish edition of You Have Redeemed the World, is written from the depths of that understanding. Steeped in the spirituality and mission of the religious communities of the Congregation of Holy Cross, this booklet invites readers to contemplate the saving power of Christ’s death and resurrection through the ancient practice of praying the Stations of the Cross.
Tune in to EWTN starting Sunday, April 17th to see Catholic Evangelist Justin Fatica discuss his most recent book, Win it All with EWTN Bookmark host Doug Keck. The program will air several times during the week of April 17th and will be viewable online after the first show has aired.
PROGRAM SCHEDULE:
April 17th Sunday 9:30am and 11:30pm
April 18th Monday 5:00am
April 20th Wednesday 5:30pm
Join Doug Keck as he interviews Fatica, a renowned Catholic evangelist, founder of Hard as Nails Ministry, and focus of the HBO documentary Hard as Nails.
In Fatica's newest book, Win It All, Fatica draws on his own faith journey, as well as experiences from the lives of his friends, to illustrate the steps toward living a God-centered life. Each of Fatica’s steps to winning it all is explained through a clear lesson based on scripture, Church teachings, and the lives of inspiring Christians. The steps :
• Recognize Your Importance
• Discover Your Mission in Life
• Make Your Mess Your Message
• Keep Your Passion
• Remain Fearless
• Commit to Loving
• Never Give Up
• Live Every Day as If It Were Your Last
Notre Dame, IN—Titled after a poem by German mystic Rainer Maria Rilke, the newest book by Joyce Rupp draws on a rich variety of faith traditions to provide meditations on God’s names for every day of the year. Fragments of Your Ancient Name brings together reflections on God from Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu and other sources as a guide for readers to explore multicultural and historical conceptions of God.
Whether drawing from the Psalms, Sufi saints, Hindu poets, Native American rituals, contemporary writers, or the Christian gospels, each page of Rupp’s beautiful collection includes a ten-line poetic meditation, followed by a mantra for prayerful embodiment of each day’s name for God.
A beloved spiritual writer with over one million books sold to date, Rupp explains how exploring names for God in different religions enriched her own understanding of God. Rupp writes in the introduction to Fragments, “I hope these reflections strengthen your faith by contributing to a vibrant relationship with the Divine and that they increase your respect for those who see ‘God’ differently than you do.”
Rabbi Rami Shapiro, author of Recovery—The Sacred Art, writes in praise of Fragments, “This is a collection for people open enough to the Divine to no longer pretend that God speaks from only one text or tradition.” In this remarkable treasury overflowing with awe in the face of God’s greatness and mystery, Rupp stirs both the imagination and the heart and challenges readers to discover new dimensions of the God who is beyond all names. Fragments will nourish and inspire the hearts of the faithful of any religious tradition.
Notre Dame, IN—In Pathway to Our Hearts, Archbishop Thomas Collins reinvigorates the ancient tradition of lectio divina, which he defines as “a prayerful encounter with the word of God,” with a fresh approach to praying the Sermon on the Mount. Drawn from the popular monthly talks given by Collins at St. Michael’s Cathedral in Toronto, Pathway invites readers to pray by listening, rather than only speaking, to God.
Collins provides readers with detailed instructions on how to practice lectio divina, along with his own meditations on verses from the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew. Readers will find Pathway to be a refreshing and unique way to engage the Bible for meditation. The Most Rev. Gerald F. Kicanas, bishop of Tucson, writes, “The recent Synod on the Word of God emphasized the importance of lectio divina in deepening our spiritual lives. Pathway to Our Hearts is exactly what is needed to make this important approach to praying the scriptures something that is accessible to all.” Collins speaks to his readers as both friend and spiritual mentor as he encourages them to love God with their minds, hearts, and hands.
Collins describes his own approach to lectio divina as “spiritual lasagna: a layer of text, then a layer of my own reflections, ending with a question to consider regarding the personal application of the text.” He reveals his recipe in eight steps:
1. Find a time and place to be alone.
2. Begin with a period of quiet prayer, asking God to make a pathway to your heart.
3. Slowly read a Scripture passage of about ten to twenty verses, pausing to think about each verse. Reading aloud often helps.
4. Ask yourself how each verse tells you to use your mind, heart, and hands to serve the Lord.
5. After going through verse by verse, read the whole passage again.
6. Take another moment of silent meditation.
7. End with prayers such as the Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be, and the Sign of the Cross.
8. Pray for God’s wisdom to illuminate the rest of your day.
Collins urges Catholics to go beyond studying scripture to truly digest its meaning and implications for their lives. Pathway to Our Hearts is both practical and inspiring, the ideal tool for those seeking a deeper connection with God’s word.
Notre Dame, IN—Each March, 40,000 people gather in the Anaheim Convention Center for the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress, the largest annual gathering of Catholics in America. Sr. Edith Prendergast, R.S.C., has been the beloved director of this gathering for nearly a quarter century and her opening session keynotes are eagerly anticipated by attendees.
Ave Maria Press is pleased to announce the release of Prendergast's first book—a compilation of her Congress keynotes titled Grace Abounds: A Call to Awaken and Renew Your Faith. Cardinal Roger Mahony praised the book saying, “It is a singular delight for me to know that these words of wisdom and discernment, first spoken in the faith-filled assembly of the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress, will now reach the eyes, ears, and hearts of so many more of God’s holy people who are longing for an encouraging word.”
In Grace Abounds, Prendergast issues a clarion call to both conversion and renewal, inviting readers to enter more deeply into the mind and heart of Christ and to live as his messengers in the Church and the world. In a world burdened by anxiety and fear, where human weakness and social sin tear at the fabric of every institution, Prendergast reminds her readers, “Filled to the brim with God’s love, we are called to let our lives overflow with love into one another. In a world haunted by terror, this call is more poignant an urgent than ever before.”
Notre Dame, IN—In his moving debut book, Kyle Kramer—America columnist, teacher at St. Meinrad Archabbey, and organic farmer—recounts his candid, humorous, and hope-infused tale of coming to know God and himself. In A Time to Plant, Kramer tells how he came to experience the joys of real community through a journey of honest reckoning with his own ambitions. For Kramer, the story involved lots of dirt.
In the summer of 1999, this earnest and high-achieving private school teacher in Atlanta decided to forego a promising academic career. A growing uneasiness with the excesses of American consumerist culture had taken root in his mind and heart and had grown into personal convictions about what it means to be stewards of God’s creation.
Those who share a growing skepticism toward consumerism might simply have started bringing canvas totes to the grocery store or patronizing the local farmer’s market. But Kramer experienced a radical call to downward mobility; he heeded the voices of the unlikely prophets in his life and purchased a block of hardscrabble land in southern Indiana in order to start a small farm. Tending it back to health—one difficult lesson at a time—Kramer founded Genesis Organic Farm, built a self-sustaining and environmentally friendly home, and began to fully embrace the Benedictine traditions of physical labor, prayer, and hospitality.
A Time to Plant tells the deeply human story of one man’s attempt to make simple living a reality as a spiritual discipline for himself, as a model for his children, and for the good of creation. As Bill McKibben, author of Deep Economy, writes in the foreword to A Time to Plant,"This book and the story it tells may seem in some sense quiet, mostly confined to a small parcel of land. But it strikes me as a fine and hopeful adventure, one that should give heart to all kinds of people as they try to figure out where they’re called to be."
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