Sunday, July 30, 2006

Archbishop Kelly links

Here's some links to recent articles and features in The Courier-Journal on Archbishop Kelly. I wanted to post them here so I didn't lose them.

Reflections of an archbishop
Vatican trends might offer hints to profile of Kelly's successor
Archbishop Kelly: Audio Slideshow and interview excerpts
Archbishop Kelly, recent years
Archbishop Kelly, early years

Some of my favorite pics of him:

Heather's Baby!

Another one of my best friends, Heather, had a baby too! Deo Gratias!

07/25/2006, 12:21am, 6 lbs. 9 oz., 19.5 in.

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Laura's Baby!

Well, I'm finally getting around to posting pics of Laura Di's baby, Riley Nicole! Laura's one of my best friends. Everyone say a prayer of thanks!

Riley Nicole was born on July 15, 12:04pm, 7lb. 8oz., 20.5in.

Sunday, July 16, 2006

happy birthday

I would like to wish our Archbishop Thomas Kelly a belated, happy and holy 75th birthday, celebrated Friday, July 14. This is also the day when he submitted his resignation to the Vatican. He indicated he did so at the Church Teaches Forum today. I pray that the Holy Spirit will bless him richly during the remaining months of his ministry.

Here's an article from the Courier-Journal. Some excerpts:

"The appointment could come sooner and could take a bit longer, though most appointments now are occurring within this 18-month time frame," Kelly wrote last month in his column in the Record, the archdiocesan newspaper.

In The Record, Kelly wrote: "I hope you don't mind waiting. Until the arrival of the next Archbishop, I hope you can put up with me, long in the tooth but a shepherd who loves his priests and people and who will continue to do his best to serve them."

"Whenever there's change there's also apprehension," said the Rev. Tony Smith, president of the Priests' Council of the archdiocese. He said Kelly has "been a wonderful bishop, giving great guidance in pastoral care. In that sense, there's apprehension about any new bishop coming in -- will he follow in that same pastoral mode?"

"Under Paul VI there was a great effort to look for pastoral bishops, bishops who were good at working with their people and … their priests," Reese [senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center] said. He said Kelly was a carryover from that style, even though he became a bishop in the early years of Pope John Paul II. Mostly under John Paul II, "the real priority was to find bishops who were loyal to the Vatican" in the face of dissent over issues such as the church's prohibition on artificial birth control. "The result has been a much more conservative hierarchy in the United States," he said.
Read the rest...

Saturday, July 15, 2006

the Church Teaches Forum

Today I went to Day Two of the Church Teaches Forum in Louisville, KY. I missed Day One on Friday because I wanted to be at my parish's Church Picnic which is a huge, humongous deal. I worked the Watermelon booth :)

This morning I met a large group of other Catholics at the abortion clinic at 7am to pray for a couple hours for an end to abortion. Then I went with a couple priests to the Forum which started at 9am. The lineup included: Cardinal Arinze (!), Archbishop Foley, Archbishop Raymond Burke, Fr. McCaffrey, and Fr. Arnsparger with brief introductions given by our own Archbishop Kelly, James Likoudis, Pat Monaghan, Leon Suprenant, et al. It was a pretty awesome day and I enjoyed getting to know newly-ordained Fr. Jeffrey Hopper a little better.

Brief Rundown:
Cardinal Arinze: The Laity: Humility and Obedience in the Apostolate - and - Sacred Music and the Liturgy as Means of Evangelization
Archbishop Foley: The Role of Believers in the Rise of Atheism - and - Social Communications and Evangelization
Archbishop Burke: Obedience to the Magesterium and the Responsibility of the Bishop Toward the Laity
Fr. McCaffrey: Deus Caritas Est: The Virgin Mary's Fiat at the Annunciation
Fr. Arnsparger: The Call of Christ to the Priesthood: Hearing It - Living It

crimson collum

Earlier this week I had an awesome little vacation with two priests from the Archdiocese: Whitewater rafting and mountain biking in West Virginia. This is an annual event and the second time I've participated.

We were supposed to spend two days rafting but our first day was a little rough. The water level was high which meant we had to let into the New River at an earlier point than ususal thus making the day longer: about 5 hours. Add to that, we had two newbies at the front of our raft which is the pace-setting position. They didn't follow our guide's commands very well at all which made the rest of the raft have to row more often and harder.

The rapids were great, with a few class V's, and it was a fun run but we were beat at the end of the day. When day 2 came around we didn't feel like rafting again so we decided to apply the funds to something else: mountain biking. I was a little intimidated by this because I've never been very athletic and haven't been on a bike in like 10 years... let alone know how to work the 24 speeds on the bikes we rented! But, we were all in pretty much the same shape and were wore out just riding to the park where we could choose our trail! We decided to pick a 1.1 mile loop for starters. I think we carried our bikes half the trail! None of us could figure out the gears. But I decided to give it one more try and this time I had a blast. When I figured out the proper gears to use and how to shift them it was a lot more worth the effort. There were some tough up-hills on the short trail but they made for some exciting down-hills as well. I was pretty proud of myself for stretching what I thought I was capable of... Next year... ATV's!

If you ever have any inkling whatsover to go whitewater rafting in West Virginia, especially on the New River or the Gauley River, don't settle for anything less than Class VI River Runners. They are THE BEST. Period. (excellent facilities, brand new cabins, EXPERT guides who value safety over hijinks [go with Eric], pull-over off the river for a complete homemade lunch, a kayaker who films your entire trip then puts together a DVD while you clean up in their excellent shower facilities, cold drinks of your choosing waiting in a cooler when you get off the river, and a nice, fun bar to relax afterwards with some beer and wings as you watch your trip video on a big screen with the rest of the rafters and guides.)

new vocation office site

The Archdiocese of Louisville's Vocations website is back up! Even though its integrated into the Archdiocese's website, and not on its own (like the one for my hometown diocese), I'm impressed with it. Check it out!

Monday, July 10, 2006

much

Ah man, I've been bad about posting and so much stuff has happened! My parish assignment is going really well. I had to put together a seminar for new and current lectors which went really well (maybe I'll post what I prepared), and I just gave my vocation story to the young adult group MOCA (Ministry of Catholic Adults) at my parish... which went really well too!

I just got back from a weekend of... uh... irreverence... ;) camping with all the guys in my family. It's a yearly thing... all the uncles, sons, dads, cousins get together and camp out at Lincoln Forest in southern Indiana. This time we celebrated my younger brother's Bachelor's Party as well so some of his friends came too. It's phenomenologically perplexing how often and easily we fall to the lowest moral common demoninator isn't it? (anyone have any comments to this point?) Thankfully I'm blessed to have family and friends who really respect what I'm doing, discerning the preisthood and all. I kept the swearing and bad jokes to a minimum this year.

Tomorrow I leave with two other priests from the Archdiocese and two other guys to go white-water rafting on the New River in West Virginia till Thursday then Friday and Saturday is my parish's summer picnic. After that, a retreat to Red River Gorge for hiking and camping with some guys in discernment. Tons of fun ahead!

Blessed Mother, pray for us.