The Year of Faith Has Begun

Today Pope Benedict opened the Year of Faith at an open air Mass at St Peter's in Rome. You can watch a recording of the Mass at Vatican's website.

In his homily Pope Benedict recalled that today is the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council and the twentieth of the publication of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

There is no doubt that Pope Benedict is setting the Council as a true landmark in the history of the Church and its long and continuous tradition. He said that if the new evangelization is not to remain an ideal or lack effectiveness due to confusion, it needs to be based on the documents of the Council. As he has insisted on many occasions, we must return to the letter of the Council if we are to find its authentic spirit. In other words, the "Spirit of the Council" can only be found in the letter, i.e. the documents.

How many people have you heard purporting to quote the Council when in fact they are only quoting what they think the Council said or perhaps wish it had said?

The Pope also recalled that, before the reform of the liturgy and calendar, this day was kept as the feast of the Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In just over an hour's time I shall be celebrating this feast in the Extraordinary Form. How wonderful to know that Blessed John XXIII chose this Marian feast to inaugurate such a historic Council.

As Pope Benedict concluded his homily today:

May the Virgin Mary shine always like a star on the road of the new evangelization.

Bishop Sample's Homily at Mass in Honor of Venerable Frederic Baraga

Bishop Sample preaches on the New Evangelization and how the life of Bishop Baraga exemplifies the seven priorities of the New Evangelization as set out by Blessed Pope John Paul II in Novo Millennio Ineunte.

See more at Bishop Sample's Facebook page.

Kenrick-Glennon Seminarians launch new journal "Vox Christi"

I received this information recently which I gladly pass on:

Allow me to introduce you to a new and exciting project from Kenrick–Glennon Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri calledVox Christi, a quarterly publication of the seminarians of Kenrick–Glennon Seminary created in response to the Holy Father’s call to develop a life cultivated by art and prayer. Vox Christi seeks to share with the world the spiritual, the academic and the artistic fruits of our community to people of all ages and academic abilities in a manner that assists in building up the Kingdom of God on Earth.

Vox Christi is written with the larger public reading audience in mind and has received a considerable amount of feedback already. A wide range of interested institutions and individuals have expressed their desire to subscribe to our journal, from high-schools, Catholic College Student Centers, Universities, Seminaries, priests, and individuals have subscribed to our journal. I ask you first and foremost for your prayers as the seminarians join you in spreading the New Evangelization. We would also greatly appreciate any publicity you could give to our publication if only just a quick mention of it.

You can reach our own blog at http://voxchristilive.blogspot.com/ or check out our Facebook page under the same name. We can be contacted at voxchristi@my.kenrick.edu or by mail at 5200 Glennon Dr. St. Louis, MO 63119.

Know of our prayers for you as you continue to spread Christ. Please keep us in yours.

Irish Dominicans Interactive

Another wonderful sign of renewal in the Church in Ireland - an initiative of student Irish Domincans. Their audio series Ears to Hear promises to be a rich source of Catholic tradition - with short audio clips from the Fathers of the Church to inspire us in this season of Advent and always, giving a voice to the Saints in the internet age.

Worth checking out.

Keys of the Kingdom on Fox UP Premieres Sunday Dec. 11th 11:30am

KinGdomLOWERHarbor from Gchild Productionz on Vimeo.

The above is a trailer. Kevin Branson is founder of "Claves Regni Ministries" and Father Ryan Ford is Associate Pastor at St Peter Cathedral, Marquette.

Pope Benedict Announces a Year of Faith

Pope Benedict processing into this morning's Mass on the mobile platform
that the media seem to be making so much fuss over.

At Mass today (which may be watched in its entirety here) Pope Benedict announced a year of Faith to commence on October 11th 2012, the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council. It will end on November 24th 2013, Solemnity of Christ the King.

The aim of the year is to give a renewed impulse to the mission of the whole Church to lead men out of the desert in which they often find themselves towards the place of life and friendship with Christ who gives us life in its fullness. The year will be, the Holy Father said, a moment of grace and of commitment to an ever fuller conversion to God, to strengthen our faith in Him and to announce Him with joy to today's humanity.

The month of October is traditionally dedicated to prayer for the missionary activity of the Church. Now, however, the Church turns its attention to those lands which once were Christian but have lost the initial joy of faith in Christ. The New Evangelisation is directed to those lands and peoples that, having been evangelised in the past, now need to be re-evangelised.

The Holy Father will introduce the year with an Apostolic Letter.

See The Vatican Today and the Holy Father's homily (currently only in Italian).

If I'm not mistaken, the bishop on the right with hands joined in the traditional
manner is Archbishop Bernard Longley of Birmingham, England.