The Colorado Catholic Herald Blog

In case you didn’t know, Bishop Sheridan has been recording for a few months now a series of weekly roundtable interviews on various topics of faith and culture. The show is called “Bishop Sheridan Presents” (if you have a better name, let us know… we’re open to it!) and it airs each Wednesday at 7 a.m. on KFEL 970AM, and re-runs on KFEL at 11 a.m. Saturdays and on KPIO 1570AM (Loveland/Denver) at noon Sundays.

This week, the show features a special one-on-one interview with Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Archdiocese of the Military, U.S.A., who is in town recently to visit the different military installations and Air Force Academy. They talk about the unique life of a military chaplain and, yes, address the recent controversy surrounding the allowance of earth-based religions to express themselves on the academy campus.

Last week’s show was also special… a one-on-one with Catholic lecturer and papal biographer George Weigel. Those who attended George’s talk on Catholic social teaching last Monday at St. Mary Cathedral will enjoy this more relaxed and equally informative discusion between he and Bishop Sheridan. George shares behind-the-scenes stories with Pope John Paul II when they were collaborating on “Witness to Hope,” his thoughts on the state of Catholic universities and Catholic politicians, and more.

If you missed these broadcasts, fear not. The Herald, which records and produces this show, archives them on the audio/video page of our Web site. This show is one of the diocese’s best kept secrets … pass the word!

BH

Today was a frantic effort by KFEL volunteers and Catholic Radio Network staffers on the final day of its radiothon to accomplish two goals:

1. Get leads on a new location where the station can relocate after receiving an eviction notice on Wednesday with 15 days to vacate the premises.

2. Raise $30,000 to cover the cost of the station move and pay off existing debt on the current location.

As of 5:15 p.m., with 15 minutes of live broadcasting left until it goes into the EWTN radio feed during a temporary/permanent (?) hiatus, it looked like they may have accomplished both goals. It appears they are just $2,100 or so short of the $30K goal. Also, the radiothon hosts are reporting that Diocese of Pueblo Bishop Fernando Isern, through his assistant Deacon Jake Arellano, has invited Catholic Radio Network to check out a possible location in a building owned by the diocese. Colorado-based station manager John Koenig said on the air that they may to look at the location on Monday.

For those wondering why the station wouldn’t relocate to Colorado Springs, the current signal that Catholic Radio Network owns is based out of Pueblo. From what the hosts said on the air earlier today, the FCC allows a satellite move to within about a 30-mile radius from the signal’s transmission base. So moving to Colorado Springs would have been very difficult to accomplish, and it makes more sense for them to keep the new home in or right around Pueblo. That said, there has been continual talk between Bishop Sheridan and Catholic Radio Network about how the Diocese of Colorado Springs could at least put a transmission boost tower in or directly outside of Colorado Springs that would significantly strengthen the signal up I-25 beyond Monument and possibly bridge the gap between where KFEL ends (usually around Monument) and its northern sister station KPIO’s southernmost reach around Highlands Ranch/Littleton in the northern end of the diocese. At this point, the cost to add towers (which includes FCC approval, tower purchase and land zoning among several tasks) is too expensive. Anyone interested in making a huge donation that can make a major difference in the lives of everyone, Catholics and non-Catholics, in central Colorado?

Also, for those who are struggling to receive the signal, if you have the capability to play your iPhone/Blackberry on your car stereo (usually through an auxiliary jack), I’ve found that if I click onto the KFEL 970 button on righthand column of the Herald Web site, it connects to the station’s Internet stream and allows me to listen to the station anywhere as long as I have a cell connection. So if you live outside the Springs/Pueblo areas, try this out over the next couple of weeks while KFEL is on autopilot and see if it works for you (sometimes the Internet feed has not worked for live broadcasting, such as the radiothon today, but hopefully that would be fixed as part of the pending move). Could be a huge boost to promoting Catholic radio in the diocese.

BH

This just in… KFEL 970AM, the Catholic Radio Network station that serves Colorado Springs and Pueblo, has to find a new home after it was handed an eviction notice by the landlord of the building that housed its studio and transmitter. There have been e-mails flying around local Catholic circles about the gravity of the situation, so I’ll share what I know…

Catholic Radio Network had been subleasing its space since moving here in 2007. According to comments to the Herald this afternoon by Catholic Radio Network president Jim O’Laughlin, they very recently learned that the people who were leasing it to them (the same group that sold them the frequency and equipment) were struggling to keep the property due to financial difficulties and had recently left the property. On Monday, the main owners contacted O’Laughlin, who was in town this week for radiothons both in Pueblo and at their sister station KPIO 1570’s headquarters in Loveland, with news that they had already found a new tennant for the building. Soon after, Catholic Radio Network was handed an eviction notice and given 15 days to find a new location for operations.

O’Laughlin made pleas on the air this week for financial assistance to help with covering costs of the move and is looking for possible new locations. The costs to move, along with the effects of the disruption of the current KFEL radiothon, total about $30,000. Any listener or Catholic radio supporter who wants to help KFEL with financial donations or a land opportunity can contact station manager John Koenig at their Loveland station at 970-669-8000 or kpio1570am@gmail.com.

As of right now, KFEL will be temporarily halting live broadcasting after Friday until the situation is resolved. From Saturday until the move (and I’m believing someone out there will come to the rescue), KFEL will still air EWTN’s radio feed. If a new location is found, there may be a period during the transition where the station goes completely off the air as equipment is moved.

We’ll keep you updated on the status of some upcoming “Bishop Sheridan Presents” roundtable shows that we have ready to air. Yesterday, Bishop Sheridan’s Feb. 22 interview with popular Catholic speaker and Pope John Paul II biographer George Weigel aired. If you missed it, we hope to have that archived on the audio/video section of www.coloradocatholicherald.com in the next couple of days.

If you’re looking for some good local programming to fill the transition time, we have tons of great audio — from past epsidoes of “Bishop Sheridan Presents,” “Ask the Bishop” and “The Colorado Catholic Herald” show to special talks by Nigerian Cardinal Francis Arinze and theology of the body speaker Christopher West — on our audio/video page. That page is easily one of the diocese’s best-kept secrets.

We’ll update here as we learn more in the next few days. In the meantime, please keep in your prayers the efforts to have Catholic radio in this diocese.

BH

From Monday through Friday of next week, Corey Almond of Catholic Charities of Colorado Springs will lead an immersion trip to the Arizona-Mexico border. He will be blogging regularly on the experience from here.

BH

Click here for a special invitation to the men of the diocese from Bishop Michael Sheridan!

On this date 10 years ago, my father died suddenly. Milestones have a funny way of sneaking up on you, and it gave me pause to reflect on my father and what he gave to me.

Of course, there are important items like providing for eight children, which meant it wasn’t always easy to get time with him. He maintained a tough Brooklyn-born, Irish exterior, but he let you know he loved you in other ways. It might seem superficial to some, but my father and I really connected over our shared love for hockey. Our conversations about who was going to add grit to the New York Rangers next season meant more than the game. I can’t articulate it properly, but the whole idea of quality time applies.

Probably the most important gift my father gave to me was his faith. When I was a child, I didn’t understand why we had to pray the rosary as a family in the middle of the week, but now I get it. And the only way we would miss Mass is if a meteor struck the earth (even then, only if the church was unavailable and we couldn’t find a Mass on TV or radio). We knew what it meant to be Catholic, and our formation began in the home.

My father, who attended a juniorate when he was a teenager, was a man who took his Catholic faith very seriously. He always said about dying: “I’m not afraid to die. I’m ready when the Lord takes me.” That’s some confidence.

When my father died, there was a convulsion of grief, but we had our Catholic faith to fall back on. Praying the rosary during my father’s wake, I couldn’t help but think that his wish for his sons was to be strong, Catholic men. In fact, one of the last things he did for me was to help me join the Knights of Columbus.

My father wasn’t perfect, but he was a man of deep religious convictions. Maybe it was fitting that he died on the feast day for the Presentation of the Lord.

My prayer is that God the Father, in unity with the Son and the Holy Spirit, welcomes Thomas Francis Xavier Myers into the Kingdom of Heaven.

JM

Spread the word…

Several local parishes and schools have also come up with additional initiatives to help the Haitian people. During the week of Jan. 19-22, St. Mary’s High School in Colorado Springs is holding “jeans days,” where students pay $1 to wear denim and proceeds go to Catholic Relief Services. St. Mary’s is also taking up a special collection for CRS at the diocesan All Schools Mass at Holy Apostles Church on Jan. 22 in Colorado Springs.

On Jan. 30, Holy Trinity Parish will hold a karaoke night in the gym to benefit earthquake victims in Haiti. A donation of $1 per song will be collected.

Marchers process down Colorado Avenue during March 4 Life Rocky Mountain on Jan. 18 in Colorado Springs. (Herald photo by Bill Howard)

The Diocese of Colorado Springs held its second annual March 4 Life Rocky Mountain on Martin Luther King Jr. Day yesterday. It was an impressive series of events starting with a holy hour of eucharistic adoration and rosary at St. Mary Cathedral. At 10 a.m., Bishop Sheridan celebrated Mass and gave a stirring homily (more on this in the next Herald) for a mostly full church. After Mass, the congregation processed to nearby Acacia Park in downtown Colorado Springs, where 11-year-old March founder Zach Goodman emceed about 90 minutes of music and testimonies from inspiring speakers. The celebration of life closed with a two-mile silent procession across I-25 and down Colorado Avenue to the Planned Parenthood clinic in Old Colorado City. I estimate that about 300-400 people were at Acacia Park, with about half of them processing to the clinic.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to yesterday’s events. I pray that one day Acacia Park will be packed with people proclaiming the sanctity and beauty of every life from conception until natural death.

BH

Just a quick reminder that Catholics Come Home is launching today on television stations around the diocese. The commercials, aimed at motivating inactive Catholics to return back to the Catholic Church, will air at various times. On The Colorado Catholic Herald Web site, you can find the link to Catholics Come Home that is also featured in the commercials. It’s an amazing venture that has already had tremendous impact on a couple of dioceses.

I also recommend you read the post below this on the sacrament of penance. An integral part of the Catholics Come Home campaign will be the sacrament of penance. Our hopes are that confessionals will overflow with people wanting to confess their sins, liberate themselves from any past weights and discover a new wonder for the faith and its sacraments — particularly the Eucharist.

For more insight on this program, check out this recent episode of Bishop Sheridan Presents (Bishop Sheridan’s new roundtable show on KFEL 970-AM).

BH

For me, the most depressing thing about the recent Tiger Woods infidelity debacle is the fact that it’s simply a microcosm of an all-too-familiar phenomenon that’s torn apart millions of families, including some that I know personally.

A family that on the outside seems united and happy is all of a sudden shattered when it’s discovered that one of the spouses has been unfaithful (and it’s not always the husband). The effects on children can be devastating.

When we witness something like this first hand, it’s easy to succumb to a sense of hopelessness. I’ve sometimes heard people talk about the tragic effects of infidelity in the same way they talk about a house fire or a tornado. “It can happen to anybody,” they say.

In one sense that’s true. No one’s marriage is impervious to original sin. But does infidelity really strike randomly like lightning? Is our only defense to live day to day hoping that we don’t get hit?

Our Catholic faith answers with a resounding “no!”. There are concrete steps that we can take to protect our marriages, and one of the biggest ones is to frequent the sacrament of reconciliation.

We’re all faced with various types of temptations, especially in today’s sex-obsessed world. But, in the words of modern technology, regular confession acts like a “firewall” that prevents impure thoughts and images from infecting our hearts and souls to the point that they can no longer distinguish good from evil.

In receiving this sacrament, we can ask God’s forgiveness for all the times we haven’t done a good job of guarding our senses (especially our sense of sight) and have opened ourselves up to temptation, whether it be through television, movies, magazines, the internet, or even friendships with other men and women that go beyond the limits of prudence and common sense. As one spiritual writer succinctly put it, “a spark is easier to put out than a blaze.”

We leave the confessional not only absolved of our sins but fortified by the graces we receive. Therefore, far from being a way for the church to make people guilty, confession is actually one of the most liberating experiences we can have.

If you’d like to learn more about confession, or want to know when it’s being offered by your parish during this Advent season, see pages 10-13 in the Dec. 18 issue of the Herald. – VA

In case you haven’t heard, Bishop Sheridan recently launched a new weekly roundtable radio show, currently called “Bishop Sheridan Presents:”  that touches on different events and issues facing Catholics today. The show’s first episode aired Nov. 11 and focused on the current health care reform debate. To date, the shows and guests have included:

Nov. 11 – Health Care Reform. Guests: Dr. Peter Zimmer, a Colorado Springs-based physician, and Jennifer Kraska, executive director of the Colorado Catholic Conference.

Nov. 18 – Vocations. Guests: Father Jim Williams, diocesan vocations director; diocesan seminarian Joe Dygert; and Dave O’Keefe, a member of the Diocese of Colorado Springs Serra Club.

Nov. 25 – Our Lady of Guadalupe and Hispanic Ministry in the Diocese. Guest: Father Francisco Quezada, diocesan vicar for Hispanics and rector of St. Mary Cathedral.

Dec. 9 – Catholics Come Home (CCH) Campaign. Guests: Father Paul Wicker, pastor of Holy Apostles Parish in Colorado Springs; Art and Katheleen Nutter, members of Holy Apostles Parish and promoters of CCH; and Rob Faughnan, diocesan director of stewardship and development.

Dec. 16 – Catholic-Anglican Agreement. Guests: Dr. Tim Fuller, professor at Colorado College in Colorado Springs, and Father Michael O’Donnell, an Anglican priest in Colorado Springs.

Once the show is aired on KFEL 970-AM, it is archived on The Colorado Catholic Herald Web site’s audio/video page. You can scroll down and listen to past shows here.

Upcoming shows will focus on Marian devotion with Dr. Ted Sri of the Augustine Institute in Denver; the unique formation offered at Wyoming Catholic College; diocesan Catholic schools and Catholic Schools Week; and Catholic Charities and serving the poor in the Diocese of Colorado Springs. We will also hope to interview special guest lecturers as they roll through town.

This is really a neat show and we’re trying hard to get the word out about it. Please spread this to anyone you know and please tune in to “Bishop Sheridan Presents” each Wednesday, Saturday and/or Sunday.

BH

Capuchin Franciscan Father John Toepfer leads a rosary procession around St. Mary Cathedral at the diocese's annual Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe celebration Dec. 6 in downtown Colorado Springs. (Herald photo by Bill Howard)

Our Lady of Guadalupe’s feast day is Dec. 12, but the diocese started the celebration early Dec. 6 at St. Mary Cathedral. Each year, the diocese holds an outdoor rosary procession (if weather permits, it starts at Acacia Park) to or around the cathedral, followed by a special Mass celebrated by Bishop Michael Sheridan. Despite the freezing, snowy weather, about 125 people — including Bishop Sheridan and a handful of priests and deacons — attended this year’s celebration. The rosary procession went on as planned, although it started at the cathedral, went around the cathedral grounds and came back into the church.

After Mass down in the Cathedral Center, Matachines dancers performed dance routines dating back to the time of St. Juan Diego, who witnessed the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe in 1531.

Our Lady of Guadalupe was named the patroness of our diocese in 1991. Chances are, there’s a parish near you that is hosting a special remembrance or celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe. See your latest Herald for Our Lady of Guadalupe celebrations this weekend.

BH