THE CONCHO PADRE POST

By Michelle Bauman
EWTN News/CNA
Baltimore MD Nov 12 2012

The rapidly developing world of social media provides new and critically important venues for Church leaders to reach out and connect with people in a digital way, according to panelists at a Nov. 11 dialogue.

The discussion, “An Encounter With Social Media: Bishops and Bloggers Dialogue,” was held on Nov. 11 in Baltimore, one day before the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops convened its annual fall general assembly.

The event – intended to continue a dialogue started at the Vatican’s blogger conference in April 2011 – centered on a new study, “Catholic New Media Use in the United States, 2012,” which was conducted by Georgetown University’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate.

Mark Gray, research associate at the center, explained that the survey found that the majority of U.S. Catholics – like the general American population – are active on social networking sites, with younger generations more likely to be involved than older ones.

Eight percent of adult Catholics who regularly use a digital device have at least one Catholic-related application, and five percent read blogs on the Church, faith or spirituality. While these percentages sound low, Gray said, they represent millions of U.S. Catholics who can be reached through digital venues.

About half of survey respondents were unaware of any significant presence of the Catholic Church online, and those who attended Mass more frequently were more likely to be aware of the Church’s online presence.

Gray explained that frequent Mass goers, young people and individuals with a high enough income to easily access digital devices make up the core audience for Catholic content in new media.

While the survey found that overall television is still the most used and trusted source of news, younger generations are turning in greater numbers to the internet and word of mouth to receive news. When it comes to obtaining Church-related information, parish bulletins and diocesan newspapers are still the most used and considered the most reliable source.

Less than half of the respondents said that they used or trusted secular news sources to get information about the Catholic faith, and the majority of those who follow Catholic blogs said that they do so to get a balance from the secular press.

Gray also identified an important entertainment dynamic in the new media. He pointed to survey results indicating that younger generations of Catholics increasingly say that a blog must entertain them in order to attract their interest and draw them back.

One of the challenges for the Church is to “incorporate entertainment with information” in order to reach people, he said.

About one in three individuals surveyed said they would like their pastor and bishop to blog. Respondents also expressed interest in seeing websites with Church history, information about saints and answers to moral questions.

Panelists at the dialogue responded to the survey’s findings by stressing the importance of using new media to plant seeds and including digital posts on various topics to open the door to a broader audience.

They also noted the need to recognize the Church’s diversity, including the growing Hispanic community, in social media outreach.

Terry Mattingly, author of the syndicated column On Religion and the blog Get Religion, observed that much of the Catholic media is currently reaching those who already agree with the Church.

“The blogs at this point are serving as a form of continuing education and debate forum for the people who care about Catholicism the most,” he said, explaining that while this use of digital media is important, it is limited and will not draw in those who are not already looking for it.

He urged the bishops to consider offering a broad range of materials online – such as film reviews, dating advice and parenting information – and to consider how to reach non-Catholics through secular sources such as entertainment and media.

Catholic journalist and blogger Mary DeTurris Poust noted that while there has been a decrease in Google searches including the phrase “Catholic,” there has been an increase in searches related to spirituality and religion.

“People are searching,” she said. “They’re just not searching for us.”

Part of the response to this must be an aggressive use of social media, with a constantly updated and evolving online presence, she said, adding that it is critical to listen to millennials who say they want entertainment and excitement, because this trend is not simply a passing fad, but the future of communications.

“Today, like it or not, I think Facebook is the new parish hall,” Poust explained.

When used properly, social media outlets provide good opportunities for both catechesis and ministry, she said, pointing to recent uses of Facebook and Twitter in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy to check in on other people, find information and offer assistance.

“We can’t look at that as a luxury anymore,” she said. “It’s a necessity.”

Read more: http://www.ewtnnews.com/catholic-news/US.php?id=6524#ixzz2C2CP9tsB

The Concho Padre

The Pope is to start sharing his thoughts Urbi et Orbi – to the city and to the world – through Twitter by the end of the year, Vatican officials have confirmed.

But followers shouldn’t expect full-length Papal encyclicals condensed into 140 characters on his new account, just a few words from his weekly teachings or an occasional update on what he’s up to.

Pope Benedict XVI, 85, sent his first tweet last year through the official Vatican account, while launching a new website. He wrote on an iPad: ‘Praised be our Lord Jesus Christ! With my prayers and blessings, Benedictus XVI.’

But now, users of the social media outlet can expect news and views direct from the man himself.

A Vatican official said that the tweets will be ‘fairly frequent’ and their content will probably ‘not veer too far from his texts, and on many occasions point to the things the Pope says.’

He added: ‘It will be proper language, for example pointing to his weekly catechesis [teachings] or whatever he is doing on that day.’

His Holiness is not expected to compose every 140-character soundbite himself but he will be approving everything sent out.

And it’s anticipated the new account, live by the end of this year, will attract plenty of followers. His flock is, after all, one billion around the world.

Updates: Vatican officials said the tweets will be fairly regular and will point followers in the direction of his teachings

‘It’s going to be nice having the Pope up there,’ the official said. ‘If you look at the top 10 tweeters in the world, those with the most followers, I think eight of them are entertainers – Lady Gaga, actors and singers.

‘I don’t know if we can compete with them – it’s hard to compete with Lady Gaga – but it will be good to have something coming directly from the Pope, something spiritual thrown into the mix.’

But while the tweets will be coming directly from the Pope, he isn’t likely to be replying to messages sent back to him.

‘He clearly won’t be replying to the tweets,’ the official said. ‘Let’s hope his followers are re-tweeting rather than engaging, because I don’t see the Pope sitting down and answering replies to tweets.’

Here is the excellent Presidential Address given this morning at the Plenary Session of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in Baltimore by His Eminence, Timothy Cardinal Dolan of New York.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York,
president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB)
Address given at the USCCB General Assembly Fall meeting on November 12, 2012.

My brother bishops,

Yes, we have “a lot on our plate” as we commence our meeting, urgent issues very worthy of our solicitude as pastors — the suffering in vast areas not far from here caused by the Hurricane of two weeks ago, the imperative to the New Evangelization, the invitation offered by the Year of Faith, and our continued dialogue, engagement, and prophetic challenge to our culture over urgent issues such as the protection of human life, the defense of marriage, the promotion of human dignity in the lives of the poor, the immigrant, those in danger from war and persecution throughout the world, and our continued efforts to defend our first and most cherished freedom — all issues calling for our renewed and enthusiastic commitment.

But I stand before you this morning to say simply: first things first. We gather as disciples of, as friends of, as believers in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, “the Way, the Truth and the Life,” who exhorted us to “seek first the Kingdom of God.”

We cannot engage culture unless we let Him first engage us; we cannot dialogue with others unless we first dialogue with Him; we cannot challenge unless we first let Him challenge us.

The Venerable Servant of God, Fulton J. Sheen, once commented, “The first word of Jesus in the Gospel was ‘come’; the last word of Jesus was ‘go’.”

Fifty years ago, on October 11, 1962, Blessed John XXIII courageously convened the Second Vatican Council “the greatest concern of which,” he insisted, “is that the sacred deposit of Christian doctrine should be guarded and taught more efficaciously.” (Allocution on the occasion of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, Gaudet mater ecclesia).

We gather for our plenary assembly in our nation’s premiere see, at the close of the XIII Ordinary General Synod of Bishops, still near the beginning of the Year of Faith. Both occasions have the same origin, the same goal expressed by Blessed John XXIII: the effective transmission of the faith for the transformation of the world.

A year ago we began our visits ad limina Petri et Pauli. I know you join me in expressing deep gratitude for the extraordinary affection, warmth and fraternal care with which our Holy Father welcomed us.

But Pope Benedict did not stop with his gracious hospitality. No. He also gave us plenty of fatherly advice — for our ministry as pastors of the Church and our personal role in the New Evangelization.

Here’s an especially striking example from his first ad limina address: “Evangelization,” the Successor of St. Peter noted, “. . . appears not simply a task to be undertaken ad extra; we ourselves are the first to need re-evangelization. As with all spiritual crises, whether of individuals or communities, we know that the ultimate answer can only be born of a searching, critical and ongoing self-assessment and conversion in the light of Christ’s truth.”

As we bishops at the just concluded Synod of Bishops confessed in our closing message:

“We, however, should never think that the new evangelization does not concern us as Bishops personally. In these days voices among the Bishops were raised to recall that the Church must first of all heed the Word before she can evangelize the world. The invitation to evangelize becomes a call to conversion.”

“We Bishops firmly believe that we must convert ourselves first to the power of Jesus Christ who alone can make all things new, above all our poor existence. With humility we must recognize that the poverty and weaknesses of Jesus’ disciples, especially us, his ministers, weigh on the credibility of the mission. We are certainly aware – we bishops first of all – that we can never really be equal to the Lord’s calling and mandate to proclaim His Gospel to the nations. We… do not hesitate to recognize our personal sins. We are, however, also convinced that the Lord’s Spirit is capable of renewing His Church and rendering her garment resplendent if we let Him mold us.” (Final Message of the Synod of Bishops to the People of God, October 28, 2012)

The New Evangelization reminds us that the very agents of evangelization – you and me — will never achieve that abundant harvest Blessed John XXIII described unless we are willing and eager to first be evangelized themselves. Only those themselves first evangelized can then evangelize. As St. Bernard put it so well, “If you want to be a channel, you must first be a reservoir.”

I would suggest this morning that this reservoir of our lives and ministry, when it comes especially to the New Evangelization, must first be filled with the spirit of interior conversion born of our own renewal. That’s the way we become channels of a truly effective transformation of the world, through our own witness of a penitential heart, and our own full embrace of the Sacrament of Penance.

II.

“To believers also the Church must ever preach faith and penance,” declared the council fathers in the very first of the documents to appear, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy. (SC, n. 9)

​To be sure, the sacraments of initiation – – Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucharist – – charge, challenge, and equip the agents of evangelization. Without those sacraments, we remain isolated, unredeemed, timid and unfed.

​But, the Sacrament of Reconciliation evangelizes the evangelizers, as it brings us sacramentally into contact with Jesus, who calls us to conversion of heart, and allows us to answer his invitation to repentance — a repentance from within that can then transform the world without.

​What an irony that despite the call of the Second Vatican Council for a renewal of the Sacrament of Penance, what we got instead was its near disappearance.

​We became very good in the years following the Council in calling for the reform of structures, systems, institutions, and people other than ourselves.That, too, is important; it can transform our society and world. But did we fail along the way to realize that in no way can the New Evangelization be reduced to a program, a process, or a call to structural reform; that it is first and foremost a deeply personal conversion within? “The Kingdom of God is within,” as Jesus taught.

​The premier answer to the question “What’s wrong with the world?” “what’s wrong with the church?” is not politics, the economy, secularism, sectarianism, globalization or global warming . . .none of these, as significant as they are. As Chesterton wrote, “The answer to the question ‘What’s wrong with the world?’ is just two words:’I am,'”

​I am! Admitting that leads to conversion of heart and repentance, the marrow of the Gospel-invitation. I remember the insightful words of a holy priest well known to many of us from his long apostolate to priests and seminarians in Rome, Monsignor Charles Elmer, wondering aloud from time to time if, following the close of the Council, we had sadly become a Church that forgot how to kneel.If we want the New Evangelization to work, it starts on our knees.

Remember a few years back, when Cardinal Cahal Daly led us in our June retreat? Speaking somberly of the Church in his home country, he observed, “The Church in Ireland is in the dirt on her knees.” Then he paused, and concluded, “Maybe that’s where the Church is at her best.”

We kneel in the Sacrament of Penance because we are profoundly sorry for our faults and our sins, serious obstacles to the New Evangelization. But then we stand forgiven, resolute to return to the work entrusted to us – as evangelizers of the Gospel of Mercy.

I recall a conversation about a year ago with one of our brother bishops, newly ordained, attending his first plenary assembly. I asked his impressions of the meeting. “Well organized, informative, enjoyable,” he replied, but he went on to observe that it was one moment in particular that had the greatest impact on him. It was during our closing Holy Hour, as he entered the large room next to the chapel, to see dozens and dozens of bishops lined up to approach the Sacrament of Penance. This new Bishop told me that he felt that moment had more of an influence upon him than anything else at the meeting.

Who can forget the prophetic words of repentance from Blessed John Paul II, during the Great Jubilee, as he expressed contrition – publically and repeatedly – for the sins of the past? He mentioned the shame of the slave trade, the horrors of the holocaust, the death and destruction wrought by the crusades, the injustices of the conquest of the new world, and the violence of religious wars, to name only a few.

I remember during the celebration of the 50th International Eucharistic Congress in Ireland last June, when Cardinal Marc Ouellet, the Papal Legate, expressed this so forcefully as he spoke on behalf of the Holy Father at the penitential shrine of St. Patrick’s Purgatory: “I come here with the specific intention of seeking forgiveness, from God and from the victims, for the grave sin of sexual abuse of children by clerics. . . In the name of the Church, I apologize once again to the victims, some of which I have met here in Lough Derg.”

And so it turns to us, my brothers. How will we make the Year of Faith a time to renew the Sacrament of Penance, in our own loves and in the lives of our beloved people whom we serve? Once again, we will later this week approach the Sacrament of Penance.

And we’ll have the opportunity during this meeting to approve a simple pastoral invitation to all our faithful to join us in renewing our appreciation for and use of the Sacrament. We will “Keep the Light On” during the upcoming Advent Season!

The work of our Conference during the coming year includes reflections on re-embracing Friday as a particular day of penance, including the possible re-institution of abstinence on all Fridays of the year, not just during Lent. Our pastoral plan offers numerous resources for catechesis on the Sacrament of Penance, and the manifold graces that come to us from the frequent use of confession. Next June we will gather in a special assembly as brother bishops to pray and reflect on the mission entrusted to us by the Church, including our witness to personal conversion in Jesus Christ, and so to the New Evangelization.

We work at giving our people good examples of humble, repentant pastors, aware of our own personal and corporate sins, constantly responding to the call of Jesus to interior conversion. Remember the Curé of Ars? When a concerned group of his worried supporters came to him with a stinging protest letter from a number of parishioners, demanding the bishop to remove John Vianney as their curé, claiming he was a sinner, ignorant, and awkward, St. John Vianney took the letter, read it carefully … and signed the petition!

III.

As I began my talk this morning, my brothers, so I would like to end it, with Blessed John XXIII.

It was the Sunday angelus of October 28, 1962.The message the Holy Father delivered on that bright Roman afternoon never even mentions the phrase New Evangelization.But it strikes right at the heart of the mission entrusted to each of us as shepherds.

“I feel something touching my spirit that leads to serenity,” Good Pope John remarked. “The word of the Gospel is not silent.It resonates from one end of the world to the other, and finds the way of the heart. Dangers and sorrows, human prudence and wisdom, everything needs to dissolve into a song of love, into a renewed invitation, pleading all to desire and wish for the establishment of the Kingdom of Christ. A kingdom of truth and life; a kingdom of holiness and grace; a kingdom of justice, love and peace.”

How could we not see it alive in those holy men and women of every time and place, the heroic evangelizers of our faith, including most recently St. Kateri Tekakwitha and St. Marianne Cope?

We have beheld it in the Church’s unrelenting corporal and spiritual works of mercy, in the heroic witness of persecuted Christians, in the Church’s defense of unborn human life, the care of our elders and the terminally ill, advocacy for the unemployed, those in poverty, our immigrant brothers and sisters, victims of terror and violence throughout our world, of all faiths and creeds, and in our defense of religious freedom, marriage and family.

And, I have suggested today, that as we “come and go” in response to the invitation of Jesus, we begin with the Sacrament of Penance.This is the sacrament of the New Evangelization, for as Pope Benedict reminds us, “We cannot speak about the new evangelization without a sincere desire to conversion.” (Homily for the Opening of the XIII Ordinary General Synod of Bishops).

With this as my presidential address, I know I risk the criticism. I can hear it now: “With all the controversies and urgent matters for the Church, Dolan spoke of conversion of heart through the Sacrament of Penance. Can you believe it?”

To which I reply, “You better believe it!”

First things first!

The Concho Padre through USCCB

Vatican City (CWN)

The special commission of cardinals appointed by Pope Benedict XVI to investigate the “Vatileaks” scandal has made a recommendation in favor of a papal pardon for Paolo Gabriele, according to the ANSA news agency.

Gabriele, the Pope’s former valet, was convicted by a Vatican tribunal on October 6 and sentences to an 18-month prison term for the theft of confidential papal documents. When Gabriele began formally serving that sentence on October 25, Vatican officials openly discussed the possibility of a papal pardon.

Pope Benedict has already shown a disposition to forgive Gabriele, an Italian reporter has revealed. Antonio Socci of Libero disclosed that the Pope sent his former valet an autographed copy of one of his books, with his blessing. The papal gift was made after Gabriele wrote to the Pontiff expressing his sorrow for having betrayed his confidence.

From CWN via The Concho Padre

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has created a new website dedicated to encouraging education, prayer and public action to protect religious freedom at home and abroad.

As our first American freedom, religious liberty is “a founding principle of our country, protected by the First Amendment in the Bill of Rights,” said the U.S. bishops on their new website.

“It’s a fundamental human right, rooted in the dignity of every human person – people of any faith or no faith at all,” they added.

Launched just days before the Nov. 6 election, the new website, firstamericanfreedom.com, includes sections promoting education, prayer and action regarding the right to freedom of religion.

Religious liberty includes not only freedom of belief, speech and worship, but also freedom of action, “the freedom to serve the common good in accordance with your faith,” the bishops said.

This means that religious communities define their faith, not the government, they explained. It also means that believers should be able to live out the principles of their faith as they help the needy, work in business and participate fully in public life.

“In short, it means that nobody should be forced to act in a manner contrary to their own religious beliefs, whether privately or publicly, whether alone or in association with others, unless it is necessary to keep public order,” they said.

“As Catholics, we’re called to live out our faith every day – not just Sunday,” explained a brochure posted on the website. It noted that Catholics “serve the poor and needy, protect life at all stages, welcome immigrants and fight for social justice.”

“Our service flows directly from our faith; the two cannot be separated,” it said, adding that these “are matters of conscience and principle, not subjects for political negotiation or compromise.”

This freedom has always been protected in America, and both major political parties have defended it for decades, the brochure noted.

“But now, all across America, our faith is being rewritten by the government,” it warned, giving examples of current threats to religious liberty at both the federal and local levels.

Chief among these threats is a federal mandate requiring employers – including religious schools, hospitable and charitable organizations – to provide health insurance plans covering contraception, sterilization and early abortion drugs.

In addition, the brochure noted, several states have proposed legislation that would prevent Catholics from offering food, shelter and medical aid to undocumented immigrants, and lawmakers in Connecticut recently proposed a bill that would let the state force the Church to change how it is structured and governed.

The brochure warned that if this pattern is allowed to continue, “being a Catholic in America will look very different in just a few years.”

To address these threats, the bishops are stressing the importance of prayer, recognizing that “With God, all things are possible; without God, we can do nothing.”

The new website offers a prayer for religious freedom and includes a section for prayerful reflections, including a recent one offered by Archbishop Lori during a rosary novena for life and liberty.

The bishops are also calling for action to protect religious freedom. The website offers information about an email and text message campaign run by the bishops’ conference to send out periodic updates and opportunities for further action.

Readers are asked to contract their elected officials and urge them to protect religious liberty. They are also encouraged to inform their friends and neighbors about the importance of this fundamental freedom by sharing the message on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

A resources section on the website offers additional materials, including a speech on international religious freedom delivered by Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, copies of several Congressional testimonies given by Archbishop Lori, a video on faithful citizenship and a religious freedom radio ad in both English and Spanish.

From EWTN/CNA and CatholicPulse.com