Jan 30, 2009

Power full truth about life

No spoken words in this add. It is visual and the point is clear. Like the unborn child who has no voice in the world but does have a form, so too this video is without words spoken but none the less is profound. I don't even think it needs the written words.

Jan 28, 2009

Jan 26, 2009

BCCbanner
2009 Boston Catholic
Men's & Women's Conferences 
Speaker Updates
January 20, 2009
Many Updates to Our Speakers Roster. 
 
LogoWe are happy to report that it looks like Jim Caviezel plans to return in our 5th year to speak at the Men's Conference and, with his wife Kerri, to speak at the Women's Conference.  Jim's address at the first Men's Conference was powerful and memorable.  [Note: Jim is finalizing his travel schedule for a Spring movie shoot and will give us a final confirmation soon]. 

Other speakers for the Men's Conference include Coach Jerry York, the #2 winningest college hockey of all time and the coach of 3 NCAA championship teams.  Coach York will speak on "Lessons from Sports for Catholic Men of Faith."  Curtis Martin, founder of Focus and co-host of EWTN's "Crossing the Goal" will also be with us this year.  A 4th keynote speaker is being confirmed.

Other speakers for the Women's Conference include Johnnette Benkovic (from EWTN & Living His Life Abundantly Ministries), Sr. Nancy Kellar (international retreat leader), Dr. Mary Healy (Scripture scholar who will speak on "Becoming Women of Peace") and Dr. Karen Bohlin, who will speak on "Raising Children of Faith & Character." 

For complete bios of our speakers and a schedule, please CLICK HERE.   
 
Sincerely,

Scot Landry

(on behalf of the entire Conference organizing teams)
 
Parish Captain Breakfast
 
Our annual breakfast with Parish Captains is this Saturday, January 24, 2008 from 9:00am-12:00noon.

The gathering will include Mass, breafast, training, handout of promotional materials, discussion of best practices and Q&A. 

All those that have served as parish captains or are considering this important way to reach out to fellow Catholics are welcome.

This gathering will occur at the new Archdiocesan Pastoral Center in Braintree (66 Brooks Drive, Braintree, MA 02184). Please email info@CatholicBoston.com for more information.

DIRECTIONS: Please CLICK HERE
 

Tickets
 
Tickets are now available for purchase.  The first 1500 ordered for each Conference get the best seats.  All other seats are general admission - so we encourage early registration.
 
In 2009, all paid tickets will include lunch. 
 
Please click on the type of ticket you need:
 
 
 
 
2009 Conference Information
 
The 2009 Men's Conference will be on Saturday April 18, 2009 from 9am-6pm at Boston College's Conte Forum.

The 2009 Women's Conference will be on Sunday April 19, 2009 (Divine Mercy Sunday) from 9am-6pm at Boston College's Conte Forum.

Please click on the links below for complete information. 
 
 
 
Please help out
 
Successful Conferences take hundreds of people playing large and small roles.  There are many ways to help.  We invite you to join us in making the 2009 Conferences the best ever.
 


 
Quick Links 
 
 
 
617-977-0916
 
Previous Conference Recaps 
 
George Martell has produced a photo slideshow of all of our previous conferences.  In addition, news articles, recordings, and other links are available. 
 
Join a Men's or Women's Group
 
Many Catholics experience the best of our faith in small groups.  Below are links to information on 3 types of groups.
 
Cardinal Sean's Weekly Email
 
We encourage all attendees to receive the weekly email from Cardinal Sean (with his Blog post) and with Pilot news stories.  It gets delivered each Saturday morning and it can keep you up with the news of the Archdiocese as well as national and international Church news.
 
To sign up, please click on this link (www.BostonCatholic.org) and enter your email address in at the top. 
 
Today I also wish to mention this years Message for World Communications Day which was released on the eve of the Feast of Saint Francis de Sales, Patron Saint of Journalists. The Message concerns the new technologies which have made the internet a resource of utmost importance, especially for the so-called digital generation. Undoubtedly, wise use of communications technology enables communities to be formed in ways that promote the search for the true, the good and the beautiful, transcending geographical boundaries and ethnic divisions. To this end, the Vatican has launched a new initiative which will make information and news from the Holy See more readily accessible on the world wide web. It is my hope that this initiative will enrich a wide range of people including those who have yet to find a response to their spiritual yearning through the knowledge and love of Jesus Christ whose message of Good News the Church bears to the ends of the earth (cf. Mt 28:20)!

Jan 15, 2009


FEBRUARY 3, 2009 SENIOR DEAF WELLNESS PROGRAM

Jan 13, 2009


HOLY HOUR FOR LIFE, JANUARY 21, 2009
7:30 – 8:30 PM IN LOWER CHURCH

The Deacons for Life of the Archdiocese of Boston are organizing Holy Hours for Life throughout the Archdiocese. Sacred Heart Church is one of more than 150 diocesan parishes participating in this important effort. This is a time for prayer, reflection, Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, Benediction, on the vigil of the National Day of Prayer and Penance. Please join us!

Jan 12, 2009

Deaf seminarian prepares for May 23 ordination

By Neil W. McCabe
Posted: 1/9/2009

“You have five months and 26 days before your ordination,” a woman told Deacon Shawn P. Carey after Mass Dec. 28 at Newton’s Sacred Heart Church.

“I had no idea how many days it was until she told me. I wasn’t even thinking like that but it shows that they are anticipating it,” he said.

“They” are the deaf community of the Archdiocese of Boston, which is eagerly awaiting the ordination of the first member of their community as a priest of Boston.

Although he was ordained a transitional deacon with his classmates at St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park, Calif., he will be ordained with the other priests for Boston May 23 at the South End’s Cathedral of the Holy Cross, Deacon Carey said through the sign interpretation of Father Jeremy P. St. Martin, the archdiocese’s coordinator of Deaf Ministries.

Father St. Martin said St. Patrick’s Seminary has had other deaf seminarians and its faculty and facilities make it a very accessible and supportive institution.

Deacon Carey said his vocation was clear to him as a boy growing up in Westfield, but there were persistent challenges that he had to overcome. “The Church did not have great access.”

In fact, when it was time for him to prepare for his First Communion, he was unable to participate in the regular religious education classes at his home parish because they were not equipped to instruct a deaf child, he said.

His mother, Kathryn M. Carey, an assistant for the Deaf Apostolate, said the family traveled to Holyoke’s Blessed Sacrament Church, where Deacon Carey’s parents knew the pastor from their days as students at Springfield’s Cathedral High School.

Eventually, his parents found a tutor who, despite being a Protestant, helped prepare him for his First Communion.

While a student himself at Cathedral High School, Deacon Carey said he had an encounter that nearly squashed his vocation for good.

“I needed a note taker for my classes and I asked one of the priests to help me find one,” he said. “The priest told me: ‘That is your problem, not mine.’”

Carey said that response came as a brutal shock. He put aside his vocation and fixed his sights on becoming a lawyer.

“If that is what being a priest was about, I didn’t want to waste my time. As a lawyer, I could help other members of the deaf community and take care of myself,” he said.

It was not until he arrived at Providence College as a political science and business major that he said he found a fully embracing environment for the deaf. “They had great access, including captioning and interpreters. The barriers were really broken down there.”

Calling them the best four years of his life, Deacon Carey was very active in the college’s chapel community and a member of the Sixth Man Society for boosters of the college’s basketball team, the Friars.

At Providence College he met priests who cared about him and devoted their lives to academic excellence. “But, still it never crossed my mind to become a priest,” he said.

After graduation, he moved in with his parents, then living in Wrentham, and started work at Putnam Investments while he prepared to apply to law schools.

As members of Wrentham’s St. Mary Parish, the Careys attended the Sunday 4 p.m. Mass, at which Deaf Ministries arranged for a sign interpreter, he said.

Roberta M. Oles, the parish’s director of religious education, said the then-pastor, Father John G. Connolly, invited Father Michael B. Medas, who was then the director of Deaf Ministries, to celebrate the 4 p.m. Sunday Mass as part of the ministry’s outreach to members of the deaf community.

Father Medas, who now teaches at St. John’s Seminary, said he remembers meeting Deacon Carey after that first time. “He was so kind and gracious, and happy to be able to experience the Mass directly.”

Deacon Carey said, “For the first time, I was able to hear the Lord speaking directly to me through the priest, not through an interpreter.”

Father Medas said over time, Deacon Carey began attending the Mass for deaf Catholics celebrated in American Sign Language Mass every Sunday at 10:30 a.m. at Newton’s Sacred Heart Church. In addition to attending the Mass regularly, Deacon Carey was a lector at the services and became a pastoral assistant there.

Even before Deacon Carey joined them, members of the deaf community at Sacred Heart had a special devotion that began after a pastoral visit by Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley, he said. Every week a different family takes home a statue of St. Mary given to the community by the cardinal.

During the week the family prays for vocations from and for the deaf community, he said. “It was very interesting that as we were praying for Mary’s intercession for vocations that Shawn came to us. There were many members of the community who saw in him signs that he would be a priest.”

Father Medas said a great deal of the credit for Deacon Carey’s vocation coming to fruition goes to the mindset and encouragement of Cardinal O’Malley. “The cardinal has said ‘If God is calling someone, it is the responsibility of the Church to facilitate that discernment.’”

There will be more and more vocations from the deaf community, he said. Young people who are deaf have the same calling as young people who can hear. “Now, those who are deaf are responding to the possibility that they can answer that call.”

When deacons assist at a Mass, they are allowed, with the permission of the celebrant, to read and preach on the Gospel.

Since his ordination, Deacon Carey said this experience is even more powerful than the experiencing his first Mass in sign.

“Then, I was watching Father Medas sign, it was amazing, but it was still something I received as I was sitting there. Now, I am actively involved,” he said.

“Using my hands to express God’s message to the people is something I feel very deeply,” he said. “Now, I feel inspired, too, because I feel the Holy Spirit moving through me -- through my hands.”

More information about the Deaf Apostolate is available at the Web site www.deafcatholic.org.

Jan 7, 2009

Mary Ann McCarthy

McCARTHY, Mary Ann On Monday, January 5, 2009. Beloved wife of the late William A. McCarthy. Devoted and loving friend of the late John J. Holland. Devoted mother to Julia T. Byrne and William J. McCarthy. Adored grandmother of Tara Laverty, Erin Byrne, and Lauren Byrne. She is the sister of Ann Dowling and the late Mrs. Vasilike Andricopolous, John Serfes, and James Serfes. Daughter of Arthur and Constance Serfes. Family will receive friends to celebrate Mary's life on Thurs, Jan. 8th from 8:30 AM - 9:30 AM at the Beals-Geake Magliozzi Funeral Home in MEDFORD. A Funeral Mass will follow at 10:00 AM at St. Joseph's Church, Medford. Donations in Mary's memory may be made to Deaf Apostolate, 66 Brooks Dr., Brighton, MA, 02184

Jan 6, 2009

Sr. Kathleen



This is the exact text of Mother Teresa's spiritual communion ( prayer) :

'Jesus in my heart,
I believe in your tender love for me.
I love you.'

(Blessed Teresa of Calcutta)

There is first of all, recognition of the presence of God/Jesus within;
This is followed by an act of faith (in God's love);
These are followed by an/our act of love.

May this simple yet profound prayer help us all to come closer to the Lord
and to give him the consolation of our love!

In Jesus,
Sr. Kathleen
May the Angels lead you into Paradise Mary McCarthy! 
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HOLY HOUR FOR LIFE JANUARY 21, 2009

Sponsored by Boston Deacons For Life in collaboration with the Office for Clergy Support and Ongoing Formation, and the Pro Life Office of the Archdiocese of Boston

Holy Hours for Life will be held across the Archdiocese of Boston on January 21, the Vigil of the National Day of Prayer and Penance, praying in solidarity with thousands of pilgrims going to Washington, D.C. for the March For Life. The Holy Hours will be held simultaneously at parishes throughout the Archdiocese and on the buses carrying our teens and seminarians to Washington, D.C. We will pray together for those who have been wounded by abortion, for respect for the dignity of human life from conception to natural death, and that those who govern us may be guided by justice, truth, and a love for the gift of life. We are encouraged by the response to this invitation. There are 133 confirmed parishes (plus two convents). If you have not yet had the opportunity to sign up, and in order for your parish to participate with the full support of materials available, the ProLife Office would like to hear from you no later than January 9. All materials are free and are available in English and in Spanish, including the Prayer Booklet for the Holy Hour. For more information, contact the Pro Life Office at 508.651.1900 or ProLifeOffice@rcab.org.

Jan 5, 2009

May the Soul of Mary McCarthy Rest in Peace,

May her sould and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, Rest in Peace.

There is going to be a funeral that you will all be invited to. It looks like it will be on Thurday at St. Joseph's church in Medford, MA but I don't know for sure yet.

I will let you all know as I find out.

In Christ,

Fr. St. Martin

Jan 2, 2009

Interview with the Deacons

God is good to give us these men as servants for us. He is showing us the love of Christ his son through these young men.