The Colorado Catholic Herald Blog

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

Herald photo by Jim Myers

On Tuesday, a funeral Mass was celebrated for Father Joseph “Rawley” Myers, a priest incardinated into the Diocese of Colorado Springs when it was established 25 years ago and a prolific author whose works have influenced many — including our bishop. Father Myers died Nov. 23 at his home at the age of 85. He served the Lord as a priest for 60 years and marked the ocassion this June.

Father Myers is also well-known for his STAR magazine, the final issue of which will be published in January as a tribute to him. Over the past couple of years, he ocassionally submitted short reflections that we ran as commentaries or letters to the editor. The last column he sent to us (late in the summer) went unpublished until this coming issue of the Herald. It was on hold, not because we didn’t like it, but because we were looking for the proper ocassion to run it. It was on one of his favorite topics: Mary. It worked out that we would run it in December, when the focus is on the nativity of Our Lord and the inspiring story of Our Lady’s “yes” to carry and deliver our Savior. It just turned out that the column would accompany his obituary.

Notes of affirmation and encouragement often accompanied the commentaries that he sent us. The commentaries would come typewritten, with ocassional corrections marked in pen. He was an old-school writer, something I greatly respect.

Oddly, while I felt (and still feel) that the Herald has a close connection with Father Myers, I never met him in person in the 4.5 years I’ve been in this diocese. He had slowly declined in health the last few years and so I never saw him out or at Masses I attended at the cathedral. I wish I had made more of an effort to meet him in person to thank him for his support and to ask for his prayers.

For the Year for Priests, the Herald sent a letter to every priest in the diocese, active or retired, and offered them free space in our Classified section to sell or distribute anything they were looking to part with. Father Myers was (and remains) the only one to respond, wanting to promote his STAR magazine. BTW, the offer remains good through next June.

The writings he sent us tended to have a couple of themes woven through each one. Father Myers loved being a priest, and he particularly loved promoting Christ in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament and promoting the Blessed Virgin Mary. Father Rawley had a great love for the wit and passion of writer G.K. Chesterton and legendary communicator Archbishop Fulton Sheen — two of my favorites as well.

Father Rawley seemed to me a man who was focused 24-7 on giving all of his being back to Christ to be used as He wills. I was particularly touched during the memorial rosary Nov. 30 when one of his nieces told a story about how, in his final years, Father Rawley grew weaker and weaker, and there were times when he would fall when nobody was home and he would lay there for possibly a long stretch until someone came home. His niece said she always envisioned Father Rawley laying on the floor, using that time to pray. It reminded me of how Pope John Paul II used his final months as a witness to the world that every moment serves a purpose and every action — including those nobody sees — are equally precious in the Lord’s eyes.

In some ways, I consider Father Rawley now a special patron of the Herald, and I will surely be asking for his intercession upon all that the Herald does as we strive to be a tool of Christ to bring souls closer to Him. I encourage anyone reading to enter “Rawley Myers” in our Web site search engine and then enjoy a cup of tea or coffee while reading the work of a humble, holy and often humorous priest.

BH

From the Colorado Catholic Conference:

***ACTION ALERT*** 

 December 4, 2009

 Support the Hatch-Nelson Amendment to Stop Abortion Funding in Health Care Reform!

 The full Senate is considering their health care reform bill. The bishops are strongly urging the Senate to incorporate essential changes to the Senate’s health care reform bill to ensure that needed health care reform legislation truly protects the life, dignity, consciences and health of all. The amendment to maintain the prohibition on federal funding of abortion could be voted on as early as Monday, December 7. Please contact your Senators today!

Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Ben Nelson (D-NE) have submitted an amendment that like the Stupak amendment that was included in the final House bill, prevents this legislation from mandating abortion coverage or providing federal funds for coverage that includes elective abortions. Those wishing to purchase abortion coverage may continue to do so with their own private funds, but not in the government-run health care plan (“community health insurance option”) or with the help of federal subsidies.

Senate: On November 18, Senate leadership unveiled its health care reform bill, The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. This bill has been brought to the floor by inserting its text into H.R. 3590, an unrelated House-passed tax measure. Debate and votes have begun and may continue until the Christmas recess.

In a November 20 letter to the U.S. Senate, the U.S. bishops urged essential changes in the Senate bill: to retain federal policy on abortion funding and conscience protection; to protect access to health care for immigrants; and to provide for adequate affordability and coverage standards. The bishops said: “Sadly, the legislative proposal recently unveiled in the Senate does not meet these moral criteria.” The bishops specifically said that if the bill’s serious defects on abortion are not corrected, “the current legislation should be opposed.”

MESSAGE—SENATE: “Please support the Hatch-Nelson Amendment to uphold longstanding policies against abortion funding, and please protect conscience rights in health care reform.

WHEN: Senate floor debate on the amendment may begin the week of December 7.

WATCH FOR ADDITIONAL ACTION ALERTS! As the Senate continues to consider amendments to the health care bill on abortion funding, conscience protections, improving affordability and coverage and protecting immigrants’ health care, the USCCB will send Action Alerts to update you on advocacy needed to support health care legislation that protects the life and dignity of all people from conception until natural death.

For more information, please visit www.usccb.org/healthcare – Thank you for your advocacy!

ACTION:

Contact your Senators’ through e-mail, phone calls or FAX letters.

?  To send a pre-written, instant e-mail to Congress go to www.usccb.org/action

?  Call the U.S. Capitol switchboard at: 202-224-3121, or call your Senators’ local offices.

UNITED STATES SENATE – COLORADO

Senator Mark Udall                       
Local Office: 303-650-7820

Local Fax: No Fax

Toll Free:  1-877-768-3255

D.C. Office: 202-224-5941

D.C.  Fax: 202-224-6471

E-mail:  http://markudall.senate.gov/?p=contact

Senator Michael Bennet

Local Office: 303-455-7600

Toll Free: 866-455-9866

Local Fax: 303-455-8851

D.C. Office: 202-224-5852

Fax: 202-228-5036

E-mail: http://bennet.senate.gov/contact/

The Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) is a group supported by the U.S. bishops that funds grassroots organizations with a mission to strengthen communities and support growth. Recently the group came under fire from some Catholic watchdog groups for funding a couple of organizations that were involved in activities that did not comply with Catholic teaching. Those groups were promptly dismissed from their grants but that has not alleviated the suspicion that is being cast on CCHD. During the recent USCCB fall meeting, Bishop Roger P. Morin of Biloxi, Miss., CCHD subcommittee chairman, delivered a passionate defense of CCHD.

In a separate statement to The Colorado Catholic Herald (that was inserted locally into a related Catholic News Service story in the Dec. 4 issue), Colorado Springs Bishop Michael Sheridan said he is “convinced that no organization that professes anything contrary to Catholic morality is currently being funded by CCHD.”

“Failures in proper oversight were made in the past. Every effort has been made to rectify those errors. It is most unfortunate that some Catholic groups are making accusations of corruption and willful neglect on the part of the bishops,” he said.

On a Lay Witness magazine blog post by writer Mark Sullvain, Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput offered his thoughts, too:

People, first of all, should be prudent. They shouldn’t just jump to rash conclusions. I have seen some blogs that are excessive in their judgment of the issue and are harsh in what they say.

Some of the members of the CCHD staff who have allocated funds from the collection have made mistakes, and I think the Campaign itself admits that.

Whether these mistakes are frequent enough for people to be as upset as they are is a matter of the facts: They have to look what the facts are, not just jump to conclusions. People shouldn’t believe everything they read or be upset with the kind of intensity that I’ve seen, because I think that intensity leads to blindness.

I think that people can contribute to the collection without worrying that they are supporting causes that conflict with Church teaching.

At the same time, Jesus tells us that our treasure should be where our heart is. If people don’t like the decisions of the Campaign staff and their allocations, one of the ways they can show their displeasure is by withholding funds from their diocesan collections. It’s unfortunate that mistakes have been made, and I think the staff has to be more cautious and more critical in its judgment.

There are many ways of responding to the situation. We bishops serve ourselves and the collection well if we are honest about mistakes, try not to make them again, and move on appropriately.

Despite Colorado episcopal support of the CCHD, there is still some fallout in a few dioceses. The national collection scheduled Nov. 21-22 will surely take a hit this year when the totals are tallied (according to a Nov. 30 LifeSiteNews report, six bishops did not hold the CCHD national collection Nov. 21-22), but in my 12 years in the Catholic press, I’ve found CCHD’s mission to be good and needed in the church. In our diocese, all CCHD monies goes to the Marian House Soup Kitchen. I was as dismayed like many others when CCHD was linked to ACORN and that organization’s problems exposed during last year’s presidential election season, and the news of two more groups getting bounced this fall was also unsettling. It looks like CCHD needs some internal tightening, and it appears they are doing so — enough to convince our Colorado bishops. People are generally forgiving, so my sense is that CCHD will be given a mulligan by most people with hopes of correcting itself. But CCHD will need to be proactive in their screening of current and future grant recipients and not wait until watchdog groups point out irregularities.

That lay organizations are holding CCHD accountable is a good thing, but let’s see how well CCHD’s current reforms work out before criticizing them further.

BH

Bring up football and Thanksgiving in the same sentence and there can certainly be a cringe factor. On a day when thanks should be given to God, God can be replaced by football as the prominent religion. I’m not saying that one shouldn’t watch football on Thanksgiving (I love to settle in after the main meal by watching a game)… just keep it in perspective.

Once in a while, you have professional athletes who use his or her spotlight to turn it back onto Christ. During the Florida-Florida State game on Saturday, quarterback Tim Tebow, once again, cleverly turned his eye black strips into a chalkboard of sorts… with “HEB” under one eye and “12:1-2″ under the other. Tebow, a favorite for college football’s highest player honor — the Heisman Trophy — is well-known for his evangelical Christianity and has placed Bible verses on his eye strips before. He has become a role model for Christian youth while also dealing with a deluge of adult cynics (just surf the Web to find them) who cannot wait for him to slip up amid his fame (and fortune, once he reaches the NFL next year). Hopefully it won’t happen, but we’re all sinners and the greater the fame the greater the temptations. Hopefully Tebow is truly anchored to his famly and his faith in Christ and will not abandon either as he enters the professional ranks. But I digress…

I was reminded again today that, by inscribing his eye black strips with a Bible verse, Tebow was showing the nation that evangelization can take place in the most unlikely of ways. It is a reminder that there are so many ways to evangelize, and it is a reminder to Catholics that the true call of the laity is to aid priests and religious in their missions by bringing Christ out to the streets — not to encroach upon the altar and reduce the role of the priest, as Cardinal Arinze so aptly critiqued during a lecture in our diocese two years ago. Remember the rainbow-wigged John 3:16 guy who seemed to always have prime end zone seats for NFL games over a couple of decades? Whenever a field goal or extra point took place in his end, you’d see the sign go up and the rainbow wig would make it easier to pick him out of the crowd. Whether you liked the guy or thought he was a quack, everyone still remembers “John 3:16.”

For those who didn’t see the Florida-FSU game or maybe did see it but didn’t take the time to look up the verse, here it is:

^“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us.”

Have a blessed First Sunday of Advent.

BH