Catholic Teens 8-29-06

Hey All--

I don’t know how many of you remember the Columbine HS tragedy of several years ago—where 2 high school students took out their anger on their fellow students with guns, killing a number of them. During that incident, one of the young ladies was asked “Do you believe in Jesus?” She said “yes.” And was promptly shot and killed. A book actually is available with the title “She Said Yes” as I recall.

This is brought to mind by a story that came out Sunday. The 2 FoxNews Journalists who had been kidnapped and held in the Gaza Strip for the last 2 weeks, were asked at gunpoint to convert to Islam. Now I don’t know what religion the journalists were or are---but they agreed and converted. Although they rejected it once they were released.

Now none of us knows how we would answer in such circumstances, although we pray for the Grace to do what is right. It is striking how different their answer was from that of so many of the saints in heaven. Nearly all of them, when asked if they believed in Jesus, could’ve said “no” and lived. Yet, they refused to be untrue to God. They refused to deny the Truth that they knew.

May we also have the Grace to always be True to that which we know of God and Christ!

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Question O' The Week:
“Why was Hell created if God wants the best for us, since in Heaven all sin is gone?”
Good question. Indeed, God does want what’s best for us. Yet, He gave us the ability to choose (free will). And we can either choose God (Heaven) or choose to be apart from Him (hell).

For breakfast this morning, you can have milk and cereal, or you could have chocolate ice cream. What is better for you? And what will better sustain you until lunch? You have the freedom to choose and then you have to deal with the consequences of those free decisions.

It’s the same, on an even deeper level when you are choosing for God or against God—and consequences then flow from that decision.

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Intentions:
-For peace in the world and an end to terrorism.
-For an end to all forms of violence, especially to the elderly and unborn, we pray to the Lord.
-For my grandmother and all others who are in the hospital.
-For Fr. Dennis Worzella and Fr. Augustine Bentil who are both experiencing health problems.
-For all the other intentions you hold in your hearts, we pray to the Lord.
Lord, hear our prayer.


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Announcements:

The Youth Group, Generation JPII will be picking up full-steam ahead in September. Look for meetings to be held 2 Sundays a month! Watch for more info!

We’ll be back next year!

God bless you!
Phil Lawson

For more information on St. Peters check out the parish website: www.saintpetercatholic.com

Catholic Teens is a weekly email from Phil Lawson to Catholic Teenagers. To receive these weekly reflections, send an email to lawsphil@gmail.com. On the other hand, if you’d like to be removed from this list, please send an email indicating that

Catholic Teens 8-22-06

Hey All--

I was at the Diocesan Center this past weekend for an in-service. Bishop Listecki gave a talk Saturday morning that was quite good. He told us about a conversation he had with a friend of his who’s a Baptist minister. Bishop Listecki told his friend, “I pray for you to become Catholic.” The Baptist minister looked at him, surprised, and then said, “Thank you. I know how much your faith means to you.”

Quite the opposite of what you’d expect hunh? The Baptist minister wasn’t offended, instead he was touched. Because he realized how strongly Bishop Listecki feels about his faith and that by saying the above, he was praying for the best for his friend.

How strongly do we feel about our Faith? And is it strong enough to where we want our friends to experience that same joy?

If Bishop Listecki can say that to his Baptist minister friend, we should be praying for our friends and telling them about it too!
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Question O' The Week:

Did Adam & Eve really exist? I heard they were just a metaphor(metaphor)”.

-Good question. That’s a question that many people have contemplated. So what does the Church and its 2000 years of history have to say?
They did exist.
They are referred to as being real in other parts of the Bible. (Tobit 8:6, Acts 17:26, Romans 5:12)
And in 1909 the Pontifical Bible Commission affirmed it.
Finally, Pope Pius XII wrote an encyclical Humani Generis
“…the faithful cannot embrace that opinion which maintains that either after Adam there existed on this earth true men who did not take their origin through natural generation from him as from the first parent of all, or that Adam represents a certain number of first parents. Now it is no way apparent how such an opinion can be reconciled with that which the sources of revealed truth and the documents of the Teaching Authority of the Church propose with regard to original sin, which proceeds from a sin actually committed by an individual Adam and which, through generation, is passed on to all and is in everyone as his own (Cf. Romans 54:12-19; Council of Trent, Session V, canon 1-4)” (HG 37)

Now that’s a mouthful, but basically it states that “yes” Adam (and Eve) did exist.

Source: The Great Adventure Bible Timeline by Jeff Cavins
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Intentions:
-For peace in the world and an end to terrorism, and for the continued ceasefire in the Middle East.
-For an end to all forms of violence, especially to the elderly and unborn, we pray to the Lord.
-For our non-Catholic friends, that they may become Catholic.
-For us, that we may become better evangelizers.
-For all the other intentions you hold in your hearts, we pray to the Lord.
Lord, hear our prayer.


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Announcements:

The Youth Group, Generation JPII will be picking up full-steam ahead in September. Look for meetings to be held 2 Sundays a month! Watch for more info!

We’ll be back next year!

God bless you!
Phil Lawson

For more information on St. Peters check out the parish website: http://www.saintpetercatholic.com/

Catholic Teens is a weekly email from Phil Lawson to Catholic Teenagers. To receive these weekly reflections, send an email to lawsphil@gmail.com. On the other hand, if you’d like to be removed from this list, please send an email indicating that.

Catholic Teens 8-22-06

Hey All--

I was at the Diocesan Center this past weekend for an in-service. Bishop Listecki gave a talk Saturday morning that was quite good. He told us about a conversation he had with a friend of his who’s a Baptist minister. Bishop Listecki told his friend, “I pray for you to become Catholic.” The Baptist minister looked at him, surprised, and then said, “Thank you. I know how much your faith means to you.”

Quite the opposite of what you’d expect hunh? The Baptist minister wasn’t offended, instead he was touched. Because he realized how strongly Bishop Listecki feels about his faith and that by saying the above, he was praying for the best for his friend.

How strongly do we feel about our Faith? And is it strong enough to where we want our friends to experience that same joy?

If Bishop Listecki can say that to his Baptist minister friend, we should be praying for our friends and telling them about it too!
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Question O' The Week:

Did Adam & Eve really exist? I heard they were just a metaphor(metaphor)”.

-Good question. That’s a question that many people have contemplated. So what does the Church and its 2000 years of history have to say?
They did exist.
They are referred to as being real in other parts of the Bible. (Tobit 8:6, Acts 17:26, Romans 5:12)
And in 1909 the Pontifical Bible Commission affirmed it.
Finally, Pope Pius XII wrote an encyclical Humani Generis
“…the faithful cannot embrace that opinion which maintains that either after Adam there existed on this earth true men who did not take their origin through natural generation from him as from the first parent of all, or that Adam represents a certain number of first parents. Now it is no way apparent how such an opinion can be reconciled with that which the sources of revealed truth and the documents of the Teaching Authority of the Church propose with regard to original sin, which proceeds from a sin actually committed by an individual Adam and which, through generation, is passed on to all and is in everyone as his own (Cf. Romans 54:12-19; Council of Trent, Session V, canon 1-4)” (HG 37)

Now that’s a mouthful, but basically it states that “yes” Adam (and Eve) did exist.

Source: The Great Adventure Bible Timeline by Jeff Cavins
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Intentions:
-For peace in the world and an end to terrorism, and for the continued ceasefire in the Middle East.
-For an end to all forms of violence, especially to the elderly and unborn, we pray to the Lord.
-For our non-Catholic friends, that they may become Catholic.
-For us, that we may become better evangelizers.
-For all the other intentions you hold in your hearts, we pray to the Lord.
Lord, hear our prayer.


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Announcements:

The Youth Group, Generation JPII will be picking up full-steam ahead in September. Look for meetings to be held 2 Sundays a month! Watch for more info!

We’ll be back next year!

God bless you!
Phil Lawson

For more information on St. Peters check out the parish website: www.saintpetercatholic.com

Catholic Teens is a weekly email from Phil Lawson to Catholic Teenagers. To receive these weekly reflections, send an email to lawsphil@gmail.com. On the other hand, if you’d like to be removed from this list, please send an email indicating that.

Catholic Teens 8-15-06

Hey All--

Today is the Feast of the Assumption of Mary into Heaven. It’s a Holy Day of Obligation, meaning we’re all to go to Mass today. (This is where you can wish you lived 500 years ago.) Because on a Holy Day—everyone was off of work and the whole town shut down to celebrate. Although I should add that in some places this is still the case. For instance, in Italy, the day is one of celebration, and in many Latin American countries as well.

We celebrate Mary being “assumed” into Heaven today, both body and soul. When we die, our soul goes to heaven(hopefully!) and our body into a grave—where it remains until Jesus comes again. Mary, because of her holiness and faithfulness, was given the reward of her body and soul going directly to heaven.

Did she physically die before this happened? We don’t know for certain. She may have and then at that moment been taken to Heaven or may have been taken before her death. The Eastern Churches refer to this as “the Dormition” of Mary---in other words “sleep”.

What we do know…is that she sits in Heaven with Jesus and all the saints, still watching us and praying for us..that one day we might join her!


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Question O' The Week:

Why do we have holy water at the entrance to the Church?
-It’s there for 2 reasons…we use it to bless ourself and to remember our Baptism. For it was Baptism that first made you a member of the Church. So every time you enter the Church and bless yourself, you remember your Baptism. On top of that, it is a blessing we receive that draws us closer to God and helps defend us against the evil spirits, that as St. Peter tells us prowl “like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8)

I believe it was St. Theresa of Avilla who recounted this tale. The devil appeared to her and she prayed him away. He then appeared to her again and she threw holy water at him. He never came back.
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Intentions:
-For peace in the world and an end to terrorism, and for the continued ceasefire in the Middle East.
-For a father of a young family having back surgery tomorrow morning.
-For the diocesan in-service this weekend.
-For all the other intentions you hold in your hearts, we pray to the Lord.
Lord, hear our prayer.


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Announcements:

St. Peter’s Keys Softball:

The Keys ended on a downnote, losing 13-4 to the 1st Place, Second Street Pub. Defensively a good game was played but the offense disappeared after the 3rd inning. The team finished 7-7 on the year…not bad for our 1st try!

We’ll be back next year!

God bless you!
Phil Lawson

For more information on St. Peters check out the parish website: www.saintpetercatholic.com

Catholic Teens is a weekly email from Phil Lawson to Catholic Teenagers. To receive these weekly reflections, send an email to lawsphil@gmail.com. On the other hand, if you’d like to be removed from this list, please send an email indicating that.

Catholic Teens 8-8-06

lHey All--

While we were in San Diego everyone from the Gomez (Patty's family) side of the family raved about William and how he looked like a "Gomez baby." And indeed William does look similar to my wife's baby pictures! And the family rightly took pride in William as one of "their own." In fact, it was kind of cute to watch. J

It got me thinking a bit deeper on a theological level. Who do we belong too? Who do we "look" like? Who do we take after? As Baptized and Confirmed Catholics, the answer to the above should be "Christ." In those sacraments we freely give ourselves to Him and His service. We seek to imitate Him in all we do. As my in-laws saw themselves in William, so others should see Christ in us.

And what a beautiful thing that would be! And indeed, that is my prayer for little William and for all of you.

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Question O' The Week:

"Will men ever be able to marry and be a priest?"

-It's possible. In fact, they have that in the Eastern Orthodox Churches. Although, if they're married they can't become bishops.

We do know that some of the Apostles were married, including Peter. The issue is more one of practicality and sacrifice. As a priest you offer yourself totally and completely to Christ's Church. You get phone calls at all hours of the day (and night!). Having lived at St. Peter's Rectory for a year when I first came to Stevens Point, I saw just how busy the priests were. I can't imagine if they were married. When would their wife and children ever see them? And would that be fair to their family? Hardly.

Imagine it's the middle of the night, your wife and child are both real ill and you get a call from a parishioner who really needs you. What do you do? Which one do you leave hanging? I wouldn't want to have to make that choice.

Similarly, now speaking as a married guy with a child. My family comes first, even before my work at the Church. And that's the way it's supposed to be. If helping someone in the Church gets in the way of me taking care of my family, then there's a problem.

One other point, St. Paul says very explicitly, "I wish all men could be as I am, free to proclaim the Gospel." Now St. Paul was single. He was free to go wherever he needed to spread the Gospel. Could he have traveled and preached so much if he had a family? No. In fact, to travel and preach as much as he did, having a family, would've been wrong—because that would be his first priority.

Priests very much live out the exhortation by St. Paul.

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Intentions:

-For peace in the world and an end to terrorism, especially in the Middle East.

-For the protection and respect of all Life from conception to natural death.

-For all the other intentions you hold in your hearts, we pray to the Lord.

Lord, hear our prayer.

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Announcements:

St. Peter's Keys Softball:

The Keys won both games last week and again last night!

The Keys had their eyesight adjusted for this game, drawing a large number of walks and scoring a "mercy-rule shortened" 18-6 Win over Grazies this past Monday night. The Keys started off strong with 10 runs in the 1^st inning, with the help of walks and only 2 hits. With some more standout defense, the team cruised from there.

-This was the Keys 4^th straight win. A win next week guarantees the Keys at least a tie for 1^st Place in the 2^nd Half!

God bless you!

Phil Lawson

For more information on St. Peters check out the parish website: www.saintpetercatholic.com

Catholic Teens is a weekly email from Phil Lawson to Catholic Teenagers. To receive these weekly reflections, send an email to lawsphil@gmail.com. On the other hand, if you'd like to be removed from this list, please send an email indicating that.