AUGUST 2014 IN THIS ISSUE Catholic Women’s Conference Love as a Source of Knowledge: Bishop Laffitte speaks, in Philadelphia, about the depth of the marital bond Porn Destroys Willpower Become a Natural Family Planning Teacher! HHS Mandate – Washington Insider Archbishop Paglia's U.N. Address on International Day of Families Evangelization Made Easy: The 8 Laws of Effectively Sharing the Faith with Anyone Like us on Facebook to keep you up-to- date on the latest Marriage & Family News plus give you legislative alerts on marriage, family and respect life issues. two by two OFFICE OF MARRIAGE AND FAMILY NEWSLETTER Marriage & Family Patty Schneier is a “cradle catholic,” full-time housewife, and mother of three. Since October 2003, Patty has been speaking at parishes and Catholic Conferences across the United States and has been a guest on countless Catholic radio programs, sharing her personal testimony, “Prove It, God!… And He Did.” Her conversion marks the beginning of a totally new life in Christ, a renewed marriage, and a ministry in public speaking. She gives witness to the beauty of the Church’s teachings and her love of the Catholic Faith. For more details, go to http://omf.stcdio.org/th_event/catholic- womens-conference-2014/ Join women of all ages and walks of life for a “faith lift”. A retreat for women to renew their faith and grow in fellowship with one another. Women will have the opportunity to: Attend Mass with Bishop Kettler Participate in a variety of workshops Take part in confession and much more.
Transcript
AUGUST 2014 IN THIS ISSUE
Definition of Marriage
Honoring Marriage Day – May 4th at St. Augustine Parish, St. Cloud
Memorial Day – May 27th
2013 International Conference of the National Association of Catholic Family Life Ministers
Help for Troubled Marriages
Prayer for our New Pope
Fortnight for Freedom – June 21-July 4th
Catholic Women’s Conference
Love as a Source of Knowledge: Bishop Laffitte speaks, in Philadelphia, about the depth of the marital bond
Porn Destroys Willpower
Become a Natural Family Planning Teacher!
HHS Mandate – Washington Insider
Archbishop Paglia's U.N. Address on International Day of Families
Evangelization Made Easy: The 8 Laws of Effectively Sharing the Faith with Anyone
Like us on Facebook to keep you up-to- date on the latest Marriage & Family News plus give you legislative alerts on marriage, family and respect life issues.
two by two
OFFICE OF MARRIAGE AND FAMILY NEWSLETTER
Marriage & Family
Patty Schneier is a “cradle catholic,” full-time housewife, and mother of three. Since October 2003, Patty has been speaking at parishes and Catholic Conferences across the United States and has been a guest on countless Catholic radio programs, sharing her personal testimony, “Prove It, God!… And He Did.” Her conversion marks the beginning of a totally new life in Christ, a renewed marriage, and a ministry in public speaking. She gives witness to the beauty of the Church’s teachings and her love of the Catholic Faith.
For more details, go to http://omf.stcdio.org/th_event/catholic-womens-conference-2014/
Join women of all ages and walks of life for a “faith lift”. A retreat for women to renew their faith and grow in fellowship with one another. Women will have the opportunity to:
Attend Mass with Bishop Kettler
Participate in a variety of workshops
Take part in confession
and much more.
TWO BY TWO | August 2014 2
"Otherness and the Theology of the Body" was the title of the lecture given by the Secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Family, Bishop Jean Laffitte, at the International Congress of the Theology of the Body, held in Philadelphia from July 9th to 11th.
Attentive to the theme: "Love, Mercy and the New Evangelization," the Secretary of the PCF wanted to focus attention especially on the experience of conjugal love, as a privileged way to know the other and oneself:
"After the original sin, the man and the woman will lose the grace and their original innocence. For them, the discovery of the spousal meaning of the body will no longer be a simple reality of revelation and grace. However, that meaning will remain as
something to be sought: a commitment required of man by the ethos of the gift, inscribed in the depths of the human heart, like a distant echo of original innocence.
Genuine love for another person is a source of knowledge: on the one hand, the other person is revealed in all his personal being, and not in a partial, reducible act of knowledge. He responds with love to the gift received and, in this way, discovers its potential. On the other hand, however, one who loves is also revealed to himself, to the extent that he is able to discover fully a real knowledge about the beloved.
This kind of love finds its fulfillment in conjugal love, because such mutual giving, of a man to a woman and a woman to a man, requires a long-term, lifelong commitment that is guaranteed precisely by the conjugal type of love."
The function of willpower happens in the prefrontal lobes of the human brain. Science has proven that using porn repetitiously actually reshapes the prefrontal lobes. When this happens, the human willpower and moral compass begins to disintegrate. Therefore, the porn-addicted brain has trouble thinking logically. A brain addicted to porn confuses the differences between needs and desires because of the inability to weigh consequences. Instead of using the brain to regulate behavior, make goals and suppress impulses, porn addicts become slaves to the dopamine and stimuli experienced while viewing porn. In order to “heal” the brain and bring it back into normalcy, porn-addicts must stop all pornography and strengthen the prefrontal cortex through prayer, goal-setting, exercise and socializing. To read more about this new study: http://www.covenanteyes.com/2014/02/28/hypofrontality/
Love as a Source of Knowledge: Bishop
Laffitte speaks, in Philadelphia, about the depth of the marital bond
Porn Destroys Willpower by Luke Gilkerson
This was posted to the Abstinence Clearinghouse web-site. The story in its entirety can be found on the Covenant Eyes web-site link to your right.
Become a Natural Family Planning Teacher!
Thousands of couples in the Saint Cloud Diocese have experienced the benefits of NFP in their marriage & family life. Let’s share the gift of NFP with every couple!
Teaching NFP is very rewarding and fulfilling. There will be a Billings Ovulation Method Teacher Training October 23-26, 2014 in Saint Cloud, MN at the Le St Germain Suite Hotel. Grants may be available for tuition for the training. If interested, contact: Sheila Reineke, NFP Program Coordinator, at 320-252-4721 or [email protected]
NFL Players Condemn Abortion in Newly-Unearthed 1992 Video
This 20 year old video conveys a message still pertinent for today. Abortion takes a human life that cannot be undone. http://www.lifenews.com/2014/07/10/nfl-players-condemn-abortion-in-newly-unearthed-1992-video/
The Pope's got mail! Tons of it....literally http://www.romereports.com/pg157654-the-pope-s-got-mail-tons-of-it-literally-en
FAST FACTS
1/3 Regrets in the Hook-Up Culture: 1/3 of students would not have hooked up with their partners if alcohol was not involved
+50% Scott Stanley of the University of Denver suggests that couples are “sliding” not “deciding” - that over 50% of cohabitating couples do not report any deliberate decision to move in together.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Sliding vs. Deciding was posted on June 30, 2014 by Abstinence Clearinghouse website
As this was written in early July 2014, by far the most important bioethics-related news in Washington was the US Supreme Court’s decision in cases brought against the US Department of Health and Human Services contraception mandate by Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood Industries. As noted in earlier columns of this series, if federal courts determine that faith-based organizations may not exercise their religious freedom by opting out of government mandates regarding drugs and devices that can attack the early human embryo, it is unlikely that those organizations will have a right to follow their convictions on other bioethics issues.
Other developments in Washington, DC, included a new legislative proposal to restrict religious groups’ freedom by statute, and discussion at the Food and Drug Administration about the “three-parent embryo.”
Hobby Lobby and Conestoga: A Victory for Religious Freedom On June 30, 2014, at the end of its October 2013 term, the US Supreme Court handed down its long-awaited decision in the Hobby Lobby religious freedom case. At issue was the right of three family-owned companies to exclude from their employer health plans four specific drugs and devices to which they have a religious objection because of potential abortifacient effects. The companies had filed suit because HHS, led by Kathleen Sebelius and then by Sylvia Burwell, was implementing a nationwide contraception mandate demanding that virtually all health plans cover such drugs
and devices as part of the Affordable Care Act’s “preventive services” mandate.
The Court’s 5-to-4 decision in favor of the religious freedom of these family-owned companies was immediately greeted by a hailstorm of negative, misleading, and ignorant commentary by those who are politically committed to mandatory contraceptive coverage for all Americans. However, what the court did, in fact, was follow its own precedents and faithfully apply a law passed almost unanimously by the people’s elected representatives.
That law is the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), which was approved by the 103rd Congress almost unanimously in 1993 and signed into law by President Bill Clinton. RFRA says that a federal policy cannot “substantially burden” a person’s religious freedom unless it furthers a “compelling governmental interest” in the way that is “least restrictive” of that freedom.
TO CONTINUE READING GO TO:
http://ncbcenter.org/document.doc?id=628
Washington Insider by Richard Doerflinger
Richard M. Doerflinger Associate Director Secretariat of Pro-life Activities United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Washington, DC
The 20th anniversary of the United Nations International Year of the Family
It is a great honor and a pleasure to address you in this Event being conducted in conjunction with the celebration of 2014 International Day of Families organized by the Division for Social Policy and Development of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to mark the twentieth anniversary of the International Year of the Family, which was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1994 to raise awareness of the importance of families, promote knowledge of socio-economic and demographic trends affecting families and stimulate efforts to respond to challenges faced by families.
I offer my sincere thanks to His Excellency, the Most Reverend Francis A. Chullikatt, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, for all he has done to make our meeting today possible.
As we read in the Declaration of the Civil Society on the Occasion of the 20th Anniversary of the International Year of the Family, “...as basic and essential building blocks of societies, families have a crucial role in social development, bear the primary responsibility for the nurturing, protection, education and socialization of children, as well as instilling values of citizenship and belonging in the society, and provide material and non-material care and support to its members....”
In that context, I am in agreement with Resolution 2012/10 adopted by ECOSOC that stresses the need “for undertaking concerted actions to strengthen family-centered policies and programs as part of an integrated, comprehensive approach to development”; and that invites States, civil society organizations and academic institutions “to continue providing information on their activities in support of the objectives of and preparations for the twentieth anniversary.”
While, however, I am in full agreement with the Theme of the International Day of Families, that is, “Families Matter for the Achievement of Development Goals,” my message today is that the family not only “matters,” it is rather at the very heart of human development, indispensable and irreplaceable, and at the same time beautiful and welcoming. Truly, it is a precious resource, an incomparable font of life for the affective, spiritual, other-serving and generative aspects of our human existence.
The Catholic Church is an enthusiastic participant in the initiatives that the United Nations undertakes to enable each people, within itself, and all peoples, as a world community, to develop as a family where the members, while maintaining their own individuality, live together in harmony and peace.
The fact that with me today on the dais are representatives of the three great Abrahamic religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, each harking back to one great Patriarch, Father in Faith and Prophet, shows that diversity does not make us foreigners to each other, or worse yet enemies, but rather offers us a chance to develop all the richness and harmony of which the human family is capable.
Moreover, the decision of the United Nations to ask all governments and all Civil Society Organizations to rediscover the central place of the family in society and human development is not only timely, it is inspired. The family – if I may say so from the very beginning of my presentation – is the right road to travel on the journey to human development, so allow me to offer some reflections that have led me to that conclusion.
For the full article, go to: http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/archbishop-paglia-s-u-n-address-on-international-day-of-families
AROUND TOWN
Congratulations: Norman & Kathleen Virnig Recipients of the 2014 Humanae vitae Award!
Meant to be or just luck? Couple gets married in Rome after 'coin promise' http://www.romereports.com/pg156845-meant-to-be-or-just-luck-couple-gets-married-in-rome-after-coin-promise--en
Feast of Assumption of Mary August 15
by [Article Author]
Evangelization Made Easy: The Eight
Laws of Effectively Sharing the Faith
with Anyone from Terry Barber's How to Share
the Faith with Anyone)
Archbishop Paglia's U.N. Address on International Day of Families "The crisis that the family is going through now could also be an opportunity for growth. It all depends on us, and we should be decidedly more attentive to the deepest desires of todays men and women."
September 21 Diocese of St. Cloud’s 125th Anniversary Mass The Eucharistic celebration will begin at 3 p.m. followed by a picnic supper on the grounds of the Cathedral.
September 20 Diocesan Council of Catholic Women & 40 Days for Life Kick-Off Rally St. Marcus Parish in Clear Lake at 8:30 am to 3 pm. Bishop Donald Kettler will present “How I View Pope Francis’ Encyclical: The Joy of the Gospel”. The day includes Mass, lunch and presentations. Chris Codden, Director of the Office of Marriage & Family, will share how to spiritually adopt & pray for the protection of an unborn baby through Spiritual Adoption.
September 22 Can We Just Talk About Divorce & Being
Catholic? 7 p.m. at St. Anthony’s Parish with Fr. Tom Knoblach,
Pastor of Holy Spirit, St. John Cantius and St. Anthony Parishes; Chris Codden, Director of the Office of Marriage & Family, Diocese of St. Cloud; and Deacon Don Tzinski, Member of the St. Cloud Diocesan Tribunal.
Regardless of where you are after a divorce or separation, we’ll try to help you and your family find answers to the questions you have. We want to help restore your faith in the teachings of the Catholic Church so you can feel the embrace and support of the community of God. On-site daycare available, please call Ginny Duschner at (320) 252-0535 by September 15.
September 24 40 Days for Life Begins You are invited to take part in the Fall
40 Days for Life from September 24 - November 2, 2014. Join together for fervent prayer, fasting and to stand for LIFE during a 40 Day peaceful public witness outside the St. Cloud Planned Parenthood facility. Contact Judy Haag (320) 453-7592 E-Mail: [email protected] or Mary Jo Ruhland at (320) 453-3695 E-Mail: [email protected] to sign up for hours of your choice. Unite in prayer for the protection of human life from conception to natural death.
October 11 Catholic Women’s Conference at Holy Angels Performing
Arts Center in St. Cloud from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm. Keynote speaker: Patty Schneier. Join women of all ages and walks of life for a “faith lift”. A retreat for women to renew their faith and grow in fellowship with one another. Women will have the opportunity to attend Mass with Bishop Kettler, participate in a variety of workshops, take part in confes-sion, and more. Call the Office of Marriage & Family at (320) 252-4721.
October 23 Mass of Hope & Healing A special Mass will be celebrated on Thursday, October 23 at 7 pm at St. Ann’s Parish in Wadena for those who have suffered a loss of a child through miscarriage, abortion, SIDS, illness or accident and for couples experiencing infertility. Part of the Mass will be a candle lighting ceremony in remembrance of those who have died. For further details, call the Office of Marriage & Family at (320) 252-4721.
Natural Family Planning Instruction
Learn the Billings Ovulation Method today!
St. Cloud: August 18 at 6:30 PM
Little Falls: August 5 at 7:30 PM
St. Michael: August 5 at 6:00 PM
For additional sites, information and to register Visit www.stcdio.org/omf/nfp or contact Sheila Reineke 320-252-4721 [email protected]
Evangelization Made Easy: The 8
Laws of Effectively Sharing the Faith with Anyone from Terry Barber's How to
Share the Faith with Anyone
1. Keep it simple: respect the gradual development of the human person.
2. Keep him or her saying yes: establish and build on common ground.
3. Be enthusiastic: show the joy of the Gospel!
4. Call him or her by name: this ensures a personal dialogue.
5. Show and then tell: find a way to show the truth, goodness, and beauty of the faith.
6. Always agree: keep the dialogue respectful and agreeable.
7. Ask questions: questions are a non-threatening way to discover truth.
8. Practice virtue: people put more trust in witness than in teachers.
Reprinted from Archdiocese of St. Louis Family Life Office Newsletter
