THE CONCHO PADRE POSTWe regret to inform you of the death of Marilyn Swain, wife of Doug Swain, longtime parishioners.
Rosary will be Sunday at 7:00 p.m. at Johnson’s Funeral Home.
The Funeral Mass will be Monday at 10:00 in the Cathedral.
Please pray for the repose of her soul, and for God’s peace and comfort for the family.
The Concho Padre
Gospel Mk 16:9-15
When Jesus had risen, early on the first day of the week,
he appeared first to Mary Magdalene,
out of whom he had driven seven demons.
She went and told his companions who were mourning and weeping.
When they heard that he was alive
and had been seen by her, they did not believe.
After this he appeared in another form
to two of them walking along on their way to the country.
They returned and told the others;
but they did not believe them either.
But later, as the Eleven were at table, he appeared to them
and rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart
because they had not believed those
who saw him after he had been raised.
He said to them, “Go into the whole world
and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.”
O God,
who by the abundance of your grace
give increase to the peoples who believe in you,
look with favor on those you have chosen
and clothe with blessed immortality
those reborn through the Sacrament of Baptism.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
– Amen.
The number of students enrolled in Catholic primary and secondary schools in the United States has fallen by 1.5% in the past year to 2,001,740, according to data released by the National Catholic Education Association.
More than 5.2 million students were enrolled in Catholic schools in the early 1960s, with 2,647,301 enrolled in 2000.
148 Catholic schools have closed or consolidated in the past year, while 28 have opened. There are now 6,685 Catholic schools, down from almost 13,000 in the early 1960s and 8,146 in 2000.
The average parish school tuition is now $3,673, while the average high school tuition for a freshman is $9,622.
75% of teachers in Catholic schools are laywomen, 22% are laymen, 2% are sisters, and 1% are priests, deacons, or brothers.
The Concho Padre
MIAMI, FLA., April 5 (CNA/EWTN News) .- After the City of Miami issued a violation to the Missionaries of Charity for “operating a business without a license,” a lawyer providing legal support said he is confident the city will withdraw the notice.
“The city has full knowledge” of the sisters’ work and has given them “numerous approvals over the years,” attorney Tom Equels told CNA April 4.
“Sometimes they forget so I’m going to do my best to remind them.”
On March 20, inspector Cornellius Pierre of the City of Miami issued a notice of violation to the “Missionaries of Charity, Inc.” for “failure to obtain a valid certificate of use for the type of business being conducted.”
The notice stated that if the “violation” was not corrected by April 1, the sisters would face fines of up to $100 a day for each day the “violation” went uncorrected.
“It’s hard to say what the equivalent is, but picking on these humble nuns is a mistake,” he said.
The Missionaries of Charity have been ministering to the area’s poorest of the poor since 1980 when Mother Teresa established a branch of her community in Miami, Fla.
“At the time,” Equels, who had just graduated from law school and began serving as president of the Catholic lawyers’ guild for the Archdiocese of Miami, said, “it was an urban wasteland.”
The only buildings of “substance” in the area were the public hospital, Jackson Memorial, and the county jail.
Since then, the University of Miami Medical Center and Jackson Memorial Hospital have expanded operations and acquired more properties in the area.
“Now the fact that the property has, over these 30 years, become quite valuable doesn’t change the fact that there’s still a substantial homeless population in that area,” he said.
Three times a morning the sisters open their kitchen for those who need food to “come eat without restriction.” In the evening, the sisters operate a shelter for mothers and their children.
When Equels investigated the situation, he found that similar threats were made to the sisters in the past, but that they were all dismissed when the city verified that the shelter was indeed operating as a charitable, non-profit organization dedicated to serving the poor.
“Miami is a very Catholic city where people of all faiths and denominations have the greatest respect for the Sisters of Charity,” he explained, “and at the end of the day the people will not tolerate what is being done here to these holy nuns.”
Equels has supplied the documents verifying that the Missionaries of Charity have the right to use their building to serve food to the poor to the City and is confident the violation notice will be withdrawn.
The attorney sees his role in this situation as one of his duties “to defend convents” because he was named a Papal Knight of St. Gregory by Pope Benedict XVI.
“This probably falls under one of those ancient obligations of a Papal Knight that don’t get called upon anymore,” he said, “I personally am very honored to be able to help them because they give so much and do so much for this community for nothing.”
“When you see what they do and how they live you understand that there is a way for us to walk the path that Jesus set up for us at the very beginning,” he added.
From Catholic World News
(Vatican Radio) We can only be saved in the name of Jesus Christ, no-one else can save us, not fortune tellers or tarot card readers. On Friday Pope Francis continued his reflections on how the Resurrection shapes our lives and human history during morning Mass in the Domus Sanctae Marthae chapel with employees from the Vatican Pharmacy.
Commenting on the readings of the Friday the Octave of Easter, the Pope recalled St. Peter’s words: ” There is no salvation through anyone else.” Peter, who had denied Jesus, now with courage, in prison, gives his testimony in front of the Jewish leaders, explaining that it is thanks to the invocation of the name of Jesus that he has healed a cripple. It is “the name that saves us.”
However, Peter does not pronounce that name on his own strength, rather he is “filled with the Holy Spirit.” In fact – said the Pope – “we cannot profess Jesus, we cannot talk about Jesus, we cannot say anything of Jesus without the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit that impels us to profess Jesus, to speak about Jesus, to have faith in Jesus. Jesus who is always with us on our life’s journey”.
Pope Francis then told a story: “A humble man works in the curia of Buenos Aires. He has worked there for 30 years, he is the father of eight children. Before he goes out, before going out to do the things that he must do, he always says, ‘Jesus!’. And I once asked him, ‘Why do you always say’ Jesus ‘?’. ‘When I say’ Jesus ‘- this humble man told me – I feel strong, I feel I can work, and I know that He is with me, that He keeps me safe’”.
Pope Francis continued: “This man never studied theology, he only has the grace of Baptism and the power of the Spirit. And this testimony, did me a lot of good too, because it reminds us that in this world that offers us so many saviors, it is only the name of Jesus that saves”.
Pope Francis concluded: “In order to solve their problems many people resort to fortune tellers and tarot cards. But only Jesus saves and we must bear witness to this! He is the only one. ”
“Mary always leads us to Jesus,” as she did at Cana when she said: “Do whatever he tells you”. Let us trust in the name of Jesus, let us invoke the name of Jesus, and let the Holy Spirit push us to say this prayer trusting in the name of Jesus … it will do us all good.”
Vatican Radio
(Vatican Radio) Below we publish a translation of a communique issued Friday morning by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith:
The Holy Father today received in audience Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Mueller, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. During the audience, various subjects pertaining to the Dicastery were discussed, the Holy Father recommended in particular that the Congregation, continue the line desired by Benedict XVI of decisive action regarding cases of sexual abuse, primarily by promoting measures for child protection; help for the many who in the past have suffered such violence; due process against those who are guilty; the commitment of Bishops’ Conferences in the formulation and implementation of the necessary directives in this area which is of great importance to the witness of the Church and its credibility. The Holy Father assured that the victims of abuse and their suffering are especially present in his thoughts and prayers.
Vatican Radio
Gospel Jn 21:1-14
Jesus revealed himself again to his disciples at the Sea of Tiberias.
He revealed himself in this way.
Together were Simon Peter, Thomas called Didymus,
Nathanael from Cana in Galilee,
Zebedee’s sons, and two others of his disciples.
Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.”
They said to him, “We also will come with you.”
So they went out and got into the boat,
but that night they caught nothing.
When it was already dawn, Jesus was standing on the shore;
but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.
Jesus said to them, “Children, have you caught anything to eat?”
They answered him, “No.”
So he said to them, “Cast the net over the right side of the boat
and you will find something.”
So they cast it, and were not able to pull it in
because of the number of fish.
So the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord.”
When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord,
he tucked in his garment, for he was lightly clad,
and jumped into the sea.
The other disciples came in the boat,
for they were not far from shore, only about a hundred yards,
dragging the net with the fish.
When they climbed out on shore,
they saw a charcoal fire with fish on it and bread.
Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you just caught.”
So Simon Peter went over and dragged the net ashore
full of one hundred fifty-three large fish.
Even though there were so many, the net was not torn.
Jesus said to them, “Come, have breakfast.”
And none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?”
because they realized it was the Lord.
Jesus came over and took the bread and gave it to them,
and in like manner the fish.
This was now the third time Jesus was revealed to his disciples
after being raised from the dead.
Almighty ever-living God,
who gave us the Paschal Mystery
in the covenant you established
for reconciling the human race,
so dispose our minds, we pray,
that what we celebrate by professing the faith
we may express in deeds.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
– Amen.
Pope Francis enjoys broad popularity among American Catholics, a new Pew Research survey shows.
A Pew telephone survey of 1,001 Americans found that 84% have a favorable opinion of the new Pontiff, and 43% “very favorable.” Only 5% have an unfavorable view.
Among the American population as a whole, 59% expressed a favorable view of Pope Francis, and 14% unfavorable.
Pope Benedict XVI had a considerably lower “favorable” rating—67%– in a Pew survey taken in July 2005, several weeks after he was elected to the papacy. That less favorable view may have been caused by negative coverage of his work at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; Pope Benedict’s popularity rose to over 80%, and stood at 74% at the time of his resignation.
Pope John Paul II enjoyed extremely high popularity, with over 90% expressing a favorable view of the Polish Pontiff.
Catholic World News
THE CONCHO PADRE POST 