Pope on the bus...

I couldn't help myself...

I saw this photo in email and this song just popped into my head! :)
Love you Pope Francis!

Pope Francis!

Thank you God for giving us Pope Francis!!
I am thrilled with our new pope and pray he lives a long life and serves the Church well.

I (along with most of the world) spent the last two days staring eagerly at a chimney...complete with the cleverly named "SistineSeagull" perched upon the chimney top waiting eagerly for white smoke.

Between marathon emails with my Catholic friends, a tweeting Twitter account holding seagull and non-stop phone calls I am exhausted and I barely left the house!  I scheduled my work and plans to give me the most time in front of the television set during the 'burning of the votes' scheduled time slots so I would be sure to see the white smoke when it came.

When the white smoke came billowing out, my goosebumps had goosebumps!  I was so excited (and still am!) to know I had a pope.  My mind raced...would he be Italian?  Or American?  Or Polish?  Or German?  What name would he pick?  Would St. Malachy's prophecies be put to rest or pushed into full speed ahead?  The questions flooded my mind as I stared at that chimney pipe and seagull hour after hour.

Smoke...white smoke!  My heart thundered with excitement!

I could not have been more pleased with God's choice for our next Pope.  A wonderful humble man now takes up the Keys of Saint Peter and will lead our Church forward in the troubled times we live in. 

I like what I am hearing in the media about him... 'straight shooter'... 'conservative'... 'no nonsense' ... 'humble'... and more. 

We Catholics have truly been blessed today.

Long live Pope Francis!

Lenten funny...

From a friend who is as ready as this cat for Lent to be over with.

EWTN Press Release: Funeral Photos of Deacon Bill Steltemeier

 Photos of the Funeral of Deacon Bill Steltemeier,
EWTN’s Chairman of the Board, Available Now

Irondale, AL – To access photos of the funeral of EWTN’s Chairman of the Board and Founding President, Deacon Bill Steltemeier, which will take place on Tuesday, Feb. 19, please go to our ftp site, https://audio.ewtn.com; user name: programs; password: 471C06NV.

A Prayer Vigil and Rosary will be prayed at 8:00 p.m. ET, Monday, Feb. 18 and will be televised. The 10 a.m. ET funeral Mass on Feb. 19 will also be televised.

Please see EWTN’s website (www.ewtn.com) for more information. Services may be watched or listened to live on EWTN television by cable or satellite (www.ewtn.com/channelfinder), streaming audio or video on the Internet (http://origin.ewtn.com/audiovideo/index.asp), EWTN mobile (http://www.ewtn.com/mobi/), on the EWTN Radio Network via affiliates (http://www.ewtn.com/radio/amfm.htm), shortwave (http://www.ewtn.com/radio/freq.htm), or on satellite radio (http://www.sirius.com/ewtn).

EWTN Global Catholic Network, in its 32^th year, is available in over 225 million television households in more than 140 countries and territories. With its direct broadcast satellite television and radio services, AM & FM radio networks, worldwide short-wave radio station, Internet website www.ewtn.com, electronic and print news services, and publishing arm, EWTN is the largest religious media network in the world.

EWTN Specials: Celebrating the Life of Deacon Bill Steltemeier

 

Irondale, AL – EWTN will air a tribute to Deacon Bill Steltemeier’s life at 1 p.m. ET, today, Feb. 15. The show will re-air at 8 p.m. ET, tonight. Please join us in celebrating the life of EWTN’s Founding President and Long-Time Chairman of the Board – and our friend. May his soul, and all the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

 

EWTN invites you to join us in celebrating the life of Deacon Bill. We will air the Vigil and Rosary at 8 p.m. ET, Monday, Feb. 18, live from the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, Ala. The funeral Mass will air live at 10 a.m. ET, Tuesday, Feb. 19, from the Shrine, with an encore at 6 p.m. ET and midnight ET. We thank you for your prayers.

 

 

***Connecticut Catholic Corner Comment***

 

I just want to add that I have admired and respected Deacon Bill for many years, though I never had the privilege of meeting him in person.  I will miss him dearly while keeping him in my prayers.

May God bless you greatly Deacon Bill for all you've done serving His Holy Catholic Church and our dearly loved Mother Angelica as well as the entire Eternal World Television Network.  You've been a wonderful blessing to my life and I will not forget you.

 

Julie @ Connecticut Catholic Corner

EWTN Press Release: Deacon Bill Steltemeier Dies

EWTN Mourns Passing of Deacon Bill Steltemeier

Founding President and Long-Time Board Chairman Dies at 83

Irondale, AL – Deacon Bill Steltemeier, 83, who was known to millions of television viewers around the world as the longtime associate of EWTN Foundress Mother Angelica, died peacefully early this morning, Feb. 15, at his home in Hanceville, Alabama  following a lengthy illness.

 

“Other than Mother Angelica herself, there is no one who has been more closely associated with the mission of EWTN throughout its history than Deacon Bill Steltemeier,” said EWTN President & Chief Executive Officer Michael P. Warsaw. “In all respects, he was a man of incredible faithfulness.  As a husband, a father, an attorney and in his vocation as a permanent deacon, Bill always remained focused on serving God and serving others.  He devoted himself totally to Mother Angelica’s mission and sacrificed all he had to help her build EWTN into the tremendous vehicle for evangelization that it has become.  I was privileged to know and work alongside Bill for twenty-five years and to succeed him aspresident and chief executive of the Network he loved so much.  While we mourn his passing, we take comfort from his own example of faith and are confident he has heard those words from the Gospel of Matthew, ‘Well done good and faithful servant…enter into the joy of your master.’”

 

Philadelphia Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap., the longest-serving member of EWTN’s Board of Governors, knew Deacon Bill well.  "Mother Angelica's vision and dedication inspired the founding of Eternal Word Television Network, but the man who more than anyone turned her vision into practical reality was Deacon Bill Steltemeier.  As Mother's coworker, right hand and friend for many years, Bill lived out a tremendous commitment to bringing the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world through the modern media.  He was an extraordinary man, and millions of EWTN viewers will remember him with gratitude and respect.  May God console his family and grant him eternal light and joy."

 

Born in 1929 in Nashville, Tenn., to the late Rudolph William Steltemeier, Sr., and Mary Ione (Phippen) Steltemeier, R. William Steltemeier, Jr., attended Chaminade College Preparatory School in St. Louis, Mo., and Vanderbilt University. He married Ramona Schnupp on Aug. 22, 1953. A year later, after graduating from Vanderbilt Law School, Bill entered the United States Army and served for two years in France.  In 1960, he co-founded the Nashville law firm of Steltemeier & Westbrook specializing in bankruptcy and commercial law.  After fifty years, the firm is still serving clients in middle-Tennessee with expanded areas of practice.

 

Both as a lawyer and as a committed Catholic, Bill served his community in many ways. For more than three decades, he was engaged in assisting prisoners in both their civil and spiritual rehabilitation.  He co-founded a prison Junior Chamber of Commerce program, and served on the boards of the 7-Step Foundation, Operation Comeback, and the Dismas House, organizations dedicated to helping former prisoners transform their lives.  In 1975, he was appointed by the Governor of Tennessee to the state's review board for prison reform.

 

Of greatest significance, however, was his ordination on April 26, 1975, as a permanent deacon for the Diocese of Nashville by Bishop Joseph A. Durick. Deacon Bill was among the first men in the United States to be ordained to the permanent diaconate.  Following his ordination, he was appointed Catholic Chaplain to the Tennessee State Prison for Men.

 

On March 9, 1978, while attending a legal convention in Chicago, Deacon Bill first encountered Mother Mary Angelica. While Mother Angelica was speaking, Deacon Bill heard an interior voice say to him, “Until the day you die.”  He knew from that moment that his life would be devoted to serving Mother Angelica.

 

When EWTN was formed in 1980, Deacon Bill became the Network’s first President and a founding board member.  In 1985, he resigned from his law firm to dedicate himself full-time to Mother Angelica and EWTN.  For 22 years, Bill would commute each week from his home in Nashville to the Network’s headquarters in Irondale. 

 

Upon Mother Angelica’s retirement from active leadership of EWTN in March of 2000, Deacon Bill took over the offices of Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer. Though he retired from the role of chief executive in 2009, he continued to serve as Chairman of the Network’s Board of Governors until his death.

 

In May 2008, the degree of Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa, was conferred upon Deacon Bill by Ave Maria University in recognition of his accomplishments and service to the Catholic Church.

In October 2009, Deacon Bill was awarded the Pontifical Medal Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI in recognition of his lifetime of extraordinary service to the Church.

 

Deacon Bill Steltemeier is survived by his wife of 59 years, Ramona, who lives in Hanceville, Alabama, where they moved in 2002, and his brother Fred Steltemeier of Nashville, several nieces and their families. He was preceded in death by his son, Rudy Steltemeier, III and daughter-in-law, Debra Steltemeier.

 

Vespers and the Divine Mercy Chaplet will be prayed on Monday, Feb. 18 at 4:30 p.m. CT at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, Ala. followed by public visitation.  A Prayer Vigil and Rosary will be prayed at 7:00 p.m. CT. The funeral Mass will be celebrated at 9 a.m. CT Tuesday, Feb. 19 at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, Ala. Burial will take place at 2:30 p.m. CT Tuesday, Feb. 19 at Calvary Cemetery in Nashville.

 

Please see EWTN’s website (www.ewtn.com) for information about Masses and programs celebrating Deacon Bill’s life.   Services may be watched or listened to live on EWTN television by cable or satellite (www.ewtn.com/channelfinder), streaming audio or video on the Internet (http://origin.ewtn.com/audiovideo/index.asp), EWTN mobile (http://www.ewtn.com/mobi/), on the EWTN Radio Network via affiliates (http://www.ewtn.com/radio/amfm.htm), shortwave (http://www.ewtn.com/radio/freq.htm), or on satellite radio (http://www.sirius.com/ewtn).

 

EWTN Global Catholic Network, in its 32^th year, is available in over 225 million television households in more than 140 countries and territories. With its direct broadcast satellite television and radio services, AM & FM radio networks, worldwide short-wave radio station, Internet website www.ewtn.com, electronic and print news services, and publishing arm, EWTN is the largest religious media network in the world.

Pope Benedict XVI Resigns!

Our beloved Pope Benedict XVI has stunned the world with his announcement that he will be resigning as our Pope on February 28th of this year.

Dear Brothers,
I have convoked you to this Consistory, not only for the three canonizations, but also to communicate to you a decision of great importance for the life of the Church. After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry. I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only with words and deeds, but no less with prayer and suffering. However, in today’s world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern the barque of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me. For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter, entrusted to me by the Cardinals on 19 April 2005, in such a way, that as from 28 February 2013, at 20:00 hours, the See of Rome, the See of Saint Peter, will be vacant and a Conclave to elect the new Supreme Pontiff will have to be convoked by those whose competence it is.
Dear Brothers, I thank you most sincerely for all the love and work with which you have supported me in my ministry and I ask pardon for all my defects. And now, let us entrust the Holy Church to the care of Our Supreme Pastor, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and implore his holy Mother Mary, so that she may assist the Cardinal Fathers with her maternal solicitude, in electing a new Supreme Pontiff. With regard to myself, I wish to also devotedly serve the Holy Church of God in the future through a life dedicated to prayer.
From the Vatican, 10 February 2013

BENEDICTUS PP XVI

source:

http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2013/02/11/pope_benedict_xvi_announces_his_resignation_at_end_of_month/en1-663815

Our prayers go with you B16!!!  God bless and thank you!  We love you and are praying for you!

Call no man 'father'... explained

I had a discussion with a Baptist man, that went something like this…

Baptist Man says: In the Bible-real Bibles, not your added on to Catholic ones, God says we are not to call any man ‘father’ (he then quoted Matthew 23:9 to me…“And do not call anyone on earth ‘father’, for you have one Father, and he is in heaven.”). He continued… yet you Roman Catholics do call mere man ‘father’ all the time. Yet another example of manmade doctrines replacing the Word of God!  You Catholics have no defense for this and you know it! I dare you or any other Catholic to even try to defend your Church teaching against this clear biblical Word of God!

My response...(using the Protestant NIV Bible)

Dear Baptist Man, why is it you cut the previous and following verses out??  Context, Baptist Man, CONTEXT.  You must take ALL of Sacred Scripture IN CONTEXT to have the best understanding.  Let’s look at what is actually said in Matthew 23 AND in the complete context of the Bible, shall we?

Matt. 23:9 "And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven."

True enough that is what verse 9 says… but what does verse 8 and 10 say?  Do you accept verses 8 and 10 too or just verse 9?

Call no man "Rabbi"....   ^Verse 8 “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one Master and you are all brothers."

Call no man "father".... verse⁹ "And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven."

Call no man "teacher"... verse¹⁰ "Nor are you to be called ‘teacher,’ for you have one Teacher, the Christ."

Now let’s think about this for a moment.  Jesus says we are to call no man on earth ‘father’, ‘rabbi’ or ‘teacher’.  Do you call Jewish clergy rabbi?  How about your Baptist Sunday school teachers?  Do you restrict the use of the word ‘teacher’ in your home?  Your church?  Your denomination?  No you don’t, I’ve seen you use those words numerous times over the years.  So why pluck out ‘father’ and point your finger at Catholics for something you yourself do?  Does that not stink of the hypocrisy of the Pharisees?

It’s time to ask just WHAT is Jesus saying here?  Does he actually mean never to refer to anyone as a "father" or "Rabbi" or "teacher"?  Does anyone think that is the case?  No way!  

Of course not!  If you go on to read verse 12 we see Jesus is talking about those who EXALT themselves.  (hint: this is about the First Commandment)

¹¹ The greatest among you will be your servant. ¹² For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.  (Matthew 23)

 

We don't call anyone else "father" as in The Creator, the giver of ALL life.  The Father of all things – there is only ONE Father the Creator of all things, yet there are many ‘fathers’ in the world.  We have fathers of children…fathers of nations…fathers of organizations.  The title ‘father’ for a family, a nation or organization etc., is not wrong.  If we made someone else ‘father’ of something belonging to God and God alone it would be a sin, but not the father of a family or nation.

God the Father in Heaven is a jealous God, He forbids us from giving HIS glory to a false god (again, the First Commandment here). That is how we are not to use the word "father" for someone or something else.  That’s the key here, giving what belongs to God the Father to someone else.  That is God’s Glory, not ours.  If a man has a child he does in fact become a ‘father’ to that child.  That title ('father') belongs to that man.   He has not stolen God’s Glory by siring a child, not at all!  And the child is NOT committing a sin if they call their father by the title 'Father'.  We don't sin by calling Jewish clergy 'Rabbi' or by calling a school teacher 'teacher' simply because those are their titles.  Again, this is about the First Commandment.  If we attempt to give God's Glory to another- then we sin. 

We have fathers; teachers and Rabbi's but we do not give them the REVERENCE of God the Creator in Heaven.  HE is the ultimate Father, ultimate Teacher and ultimate Rabbi.  He is the Creator of all.  That is God’s Glory, not mans.  This Glory belongs to God and we exalt God for it.  We don’t exalt men for what God the Father has done.  That is forbidden.  That is what the Bible warns about.  That is what Jesus is saying in Matthew 23 (and other places).

We can take comfort in knowing that calling someone "father" is NOT a sin or wrong because Jesus Christ uses the term "father" dozens of times referring to people's actual parents and "Father" Abraham as the "father" of a nation.  (As I mentioned above, this is not a sin.  A man becoming the ‘father’ of a nation does NOT in any way attempt to take away God’s Glory)  If using the word "father" for someone other than God was wrong, Jesus Christ would not have done it.  Jesus is our perfect example.

But let’s not limit ourselves to Matthew 23 alone, let’s look at what else the Bible tells us.  In the New Testament we see Paul teaching us that priests are in fact our “fathers” because of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  This is precisely why the Catholic Church refers to her priests as ‘fathers’ – because the Bible tells us so!

1 Cor.4 ^{14 "}I am not writing this to shame you, but to warn you, as my dear children. ¹⁵Even though you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. ¹⁶Therefore I urge you to imitate me. ¹⁷For this reason I am sending to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church." (NIV Bible)

Anyone who claims we are not to call a man ‘father’ because of Matthew 23 clearly has no understanding of what Jesus was teaching.  It’s all about CONTEXT and knowing the First Commandment.  If you pick a verse here and reject a verse there, you will nearly always be wrong.  You will be not only deceiving yourself, but also anyone else you share your personal views with.

Remember, that if it were wrong to call someone ‘father’, ‘rabbi’ or ‘teacher’ then Jesus would not have done it, nor would Paul be telling everyone that he (Paul) is in fact their ‘father’ because he's a priest (1 Cor. 4:15).  The Gospel teaches that the Church's priests ARE our fathers- not THE Father the Creator, but fathers made so by the Gospel.  The Catholic Church teaches exactly what the Bible says and what Jesus taught.