Thank you, Lord, for the energy You give us to keep going, to persevere, when we need to.
17 November 2012
Msgr. Pope on the Family and Its Relationship to the Church
“As we continue to read the letter of St. Paul to Titus in the reading at daily Mass, we see some important teachings about the “domestic Church,” otherwise known as the family. The insights are important, for if the domestic church is not strong, neither will the parish, diocesan or universal Church be strong. And while there is a tendency today on blogs like this, to often focus on the disrepair that some notice of the parish or diocesan Church, it remains a fact that many of our families are in far greater disrepair.
“In effect God gives a simple insight for Church renewal in the reading from today’s (Tuesday of Week 32) Mass. So let’s take a brief look at what the Holy Spirit says through St. Paul says about the family, and its relationship to the Church.”
In a recent commentary, Monsignor Charles Pope (pastor of Holy Comforter-Saint Cyprian Parish, Washington, DC) reflected on the importance of preaching sound doctrine at the parish level and the related role of the family in living the Gospel message, both of which contribute to a strong parish community.
To access Msgr. Pope’s complete post, please visit:
Msgr. Charles Pope: A Simple Plan from God For Church Renewal (13 NOV 12)
Reflection Starter from Ross Perot
“Don’t run your life by what’s legal or illegal. Run your life based on what’s right or wrong.” – H. Ross Perot (to the midshipmen at the United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, on applying the academy’s ethics code to their lives)
16 November 2012
Rebecca St. James and Rachel Scott: “Blessed Be Your Name
As we continue to live this week, I offer this version of Rebecca St. James and Rachel Scott singing Matt Redman’s “Blessed Be Your Name”:
Survey Reports Lack of Support, Parenthood Top Reasons American High School Students Drop Out
Lack of parental and educational support and becoming a parent are two of the most common reasons younger Americans drop out of high school, according to information recently released in the 2012 High School Dropouts in America survey conducted by Harris/Decima on behalf of Everest College.
The national survey of 513 adults aged 19 to 35 found that nearly a quarter of Americans (23%) cited the absence of parental support or encouragement as a reason for not completing high school, followed by 21% who said they became a parent. Missing too many days of school ranked third at 17%, followed by failing classes (15%), uninteresting classes (15%), and suffering from depression or other mental illness (15%).
The survey also found that women are three times more likely than men, 27% versus 9%, to leave high school because they became a parent. When it came to the issue of bullying, white respondents, more than any other racial group, cited bullying (14%) as a reason for dropping out.
More than three-quarters (76%) of respondents had not considered a GED credential or had looked into it, but had yet to pursue entering the program. Time and money were the top two reasons for not seeking a GED credential. According to the survey, 34% cited time as a prohibitive factor, while 26% said associated costs was a reason for not looking into or obtaining their GED credential. Women were more likely than men to say it costs too much (30% vs. 18%).
A third of the high school dropouts surveyed said they were employed either full time, part time, or were self-employed. Men were more likely than women to say they are unemployed (38% vs. 26%). Among those who are employed, nearly half (46%) said they have little to no prospects for advancement in their current position.
Everest College's 2012 High School Dropouts in America survey was conducted online using the Harris Interactive online panel (HPOL) between Oct.3-Oct.18, 2012 among 513 U.S. adults, ages 19 to 35, who did not complete high school. Results were weighted for age, sex, and geographic region to align them with their actual proportions in the population.
Media report:
Background information:
Alliance for Excellent Education
Alliance for Education Issue Brief: The High Cost of High School Dropouts (August 2009)
Dives in Misericordia: “He Who Sees Me Sees the Father” (2, continued)
Chapter II of “Dives in Misericordia” (“Rich in Mercy”) is entitled “The Incarnation of Mercy.” It continues as follows:
“2. . . . In the present encyclical wish to accept this appeal; I wish to draw from the eternal and at the same time-for its simplicity and depth- incomparable language of revelation and faith, in order through this same language to express once more before God and before humanity the major anxieties of our time.
“In fact, revelation and faith teach us not only to meditate in the abstract upon the mystery of God as ‘Father of mercies,’ but also to have recourse to that mercy in the name of Christ and in union with Him. Did not Christ say that our Father, who ‘sees in secret,’17 is always waiting for us to have recourse to Him in every need and always waiting for us to study His mystery: the mystery of the Father and His love?18
“I therefore wish these considerations to bring this mystery closer to everyone. At the same time I wish them to be a heartfelt appeal by the Church to mercy, which humanity and the modern world need so much. And they need mercy even though they often do not realize it.”
17. Matthew 6:4, 6, 18.
18. Cf. Ephesians 3:18; also Luke 11:5-13.
To access the complete document, please visit:
Thank You, Lord
Thank you, Lord, for the uniqueness each of us has and for the related graces You give us for our state in life.
Pope: To Give Space to the Elderly Is to Give Space to Life
Earlier this week, Pope Benedict XVI visited the Sant Egidio Community’s “Viva gli Anziani” rest home for the elderly in Rome. In a brief address to the residents he said that he came among them “as Bishop of Rome, but also as an elderly person visiting his peers. I well know the difficulties and limitations of age, and am aware that for many people these difficulties are aggravated by the economic crisis.”
“At times,” he continued, “at a certain age, one turns to the past with regret for the loss of youth, its energy and plans for the future. At times our perspective is veiled with sadness, as we consider this phase as the twilight of life. This morning, ideally addressing all the elderly and aware of the difficulties that our age brings, I would like to say to you with profound conviction: it is good to be elderly! At every age it is necessary to know how to discover the presence and the blessing of the Lord, and the richness that this brings. We must not allow ourselves to be imprisoned by sadness! We have received the gift of long life. To live is beautiful, even at our age and despite infirmities or limitations. Let our faces always reflect the joy of being loved by God, and never sadness.”
The Holy Father recalled that in the Bible, “longevity is considered as a blessing from God; today this blessing is widespread and must be seen as a gift to appreciate and value. Yet often society, dominated by the logic of efficiency and profit, does not welcome it as such; on the contrary, it often rejects it, considering the elderly as unproductive and useless.” However, the Pope observed, the elderly are a source of wisdom and “a great resource. The quality of a society, of a civilization, may also be judged by how it treats its elderly and by the place reserved for them in communal life. To give space to the elderly is to give space to life!”
Benedict XVI’s visit forms a part of the European Year for Active Ageing and Solidarity Among Generations, and, in this context, he affirmed that the elderly “are of value to society, above all for the young. There can be no true human education and growth without fruitful contact with the elderly, because their very existence is like an open book in which younger generations may find valuable guidance for their own journey through life.”
“At our age,” he observed, “we often experience the need for the assistance of others, and this also happens to the Pope. . . . I would like to invite you to see in this too a gift from the Lord. It is a grace to be supported and accompanied, to receive the affection of others! This is important in every phase of life: no one can live alone and without help; humans are relational beings. . . . Never be discouraged: you are valuable to society, even in suffering and sickness. And this phase of life is a gift that also allows us to deepen our relationship with God. The example of Blessed Pope John Paul II was and remains illuminating to all. Do not forget that, among the valuable resources you have, there is the essential gift of prayer.”
“The prayer of the elderly can protect the world, helping it perhaps in a more incisive way than is achieved by the efforts of many. I would like, today, to entrust to your prayer the good of the Church and peace in the world. The Pope loves you and counts on you all! Know that you are loved by God, and bring to our society, often so individualistic and intent upon efficiency, a ray of God’s love.”
Reflection Starter from Blessed John Henry Newman
“Nothing is more common than for men to think that because they are familiar with words they understand the ideas they stand for.” – Blessed John Henry Newman
15 November 2012
Coordinated School Health
Coordinated school health is a strategy recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as part of the process of improving students' health and learning in the nation’s schools.
There are eight components of coordinated school health:
- health education;
- physical education;
- health services (designed to ensure access and/or referral to primary health care services);
- nutrition services;
- counseling, psychological, and social services;
- a healthy and safe school environment;
- health promotion for school staff members; and
- family/community involvement in the health and well-being of students.
CDC advises that the health and academic success of young people is strongly linked. Consequently, CDC also advises, helping students stay healthy is a fundamental part of the mission of schools (schools cannot achieve their primary mission of education if students and staff are not healthy).
According to CDC, school health programs and policies in the United States have resulted, in large part, from a wide variety of federal, state and local mandates, regulations, initiatives, and funding streams. The result, in many schools, is a “patchwork” of policies and programs with differing standards, requirements, and populations to be served. In addition, the professionals who oversee the different pieces of the patchwork come from multiple disciplines: education, nursing, social work, psychology, nutrition, and school administration, each bringing specialized expertise, training, and approaches.
A coordinated school health strategy may enable schools to eliminate gaps and reduce redundancies across its many initiatives and funding streams, and it may also help to build partnerships and teamwork among school health and education professionals in the school. Ideally such a strategy will help focus efforts on helping students to engage in protective, health-enhancing behaviors and to avoid risk behaviors.
For additional information about these eight coordinated school health components, please visit:
CDC: Components of Coordinated School Health
For additional information about the coordinated school health strategy (including how schools can implement coordinated school health), please visit:
CDC: Adolescent and School Health: Coordinated School Health
Background information:
Dives in Misericordia: “He Who Sees Me Sees the Father” (2, continued)
Chapter II of “Dives in Misericordia” (“Rich in Mercy”) is entitled “The Incarnation of Mercy.” It continues as follows:
“2. . . . The situation of the world today not only displays transformations that give grounds for hope in a better future for man on earth, but also reveals a multitude of threats, far surpassing those known up till now. Without ceasing to point out these threats on various occasions (as in addresses at UNO, to UNESCO, to FAO and elsewhere), the Church must at the same time examine them in the light of the truth received from God.
“The truth, revealed in Christ, about God the ‘Father of mercies,’16 enables us to ‘see’ Him as particularly close to man especially when man is suffering, when he is under threat at the very heart of his existence and dignity. And this is why, in the situation of the Church and the world today, many individuals and groups guided by a lively sense of faith are turning, I would say almost spontaneously, to the mercy of God. They are certainly being moved to do this by Christ Himself, who through His Spirit works within human hearts. For the mystery of God the ‘Father of mercies’ revealed by Christ becomes, in the context of today’s threats to man, as it were a unique appeal addressed to the Church.”
16. 2 Corinthians 1:3.
To access the complete document, please visit:
Thank You, Lord
Thank you, Lord, for the many ways in which You reach out to Your people who are feeling the weight of discouragement.
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