More Details on the Apologetics Class

The apologetics class is right on track.  Deacon Bob Skinner and I are excited about the opportunity to present this information to the parish.

Here’s everything you’re going to need to know (I hope; if I missed something, please ask!):

• Classes will begin on Sunday, September 14, at 10:20 in the Science classroom of the school building (enter through the gym doors across from the church entrance, turn right, then left at the first hallway to the end.  The classroom with the tall bald black man in it will be the right one!).
• The same class will be repeated on Wednesday, September 17, at 7:15 pm in The Visual Arts Classroom, next door to the Lay Minister’s Sacristy just off the narthex of the main church. (THIS IS A CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS INSTRUCTIONS)
  
• The class schedule will run about twelve weeks, until Wednesday, December 17.  Each class will be taught on Sunday and Wednesday (same class each week, to give you flexibility in choosing a class to attend).
• Child care will be available, if there is enough demand, for both class times.  We need to know what the needs are prior to September 14th so that we can arrange for the appropriate number of caregivers.  Please plan on a small donation (about $3.00) per class period to defray the cost of the caregivers.
• The books we will use will be available at the first class on September 14th and 17th.  The set (text, study guide and a Catholic Verse Finder) costs $10.00; please make checks payable to St. Ann Catholic Church, or bring cash.  We’ll have the books at the first several classes; if we run out, we can always get more!  In addition to the texts we provide, the following will be helpful:
  – a Bible (New American Bible is the best one to use);
  – the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
• Please do not be put off if you don’t think you can make all 12 classes.  The units stand alone, and do not build on one another; even if you can make only every other class, you’ll still get a lot out of it.
• The class is geared to learners high school age or above.  Please feel free to enroll your teenagers if you like.

THE PAPER FORM FOR REGISTRATION IS NOW AVAILABLE IN THE BULLETIN, AND IN THE NARTHEX OF THE CHURCH; however, you can register simply by emailing the following information to either me or to Deacon Bob Skinner:

Name(s) of attendee(s)

Class you’re signing up for (Sun / Wed)

Email Address(es)

Contact phone number(s)

Name(s) and age(s) of any child(ren) needing care

And that’s it!  We look forward to seeing you in the class.  Please holler if there are questions.  Take care, and God bless!

Homily for the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time: What Do They See?

The Jews of Jesus’ time had some funny ways about them.  They were pretty particular about who they hung out with; Samaritans and Gentiles, as well as known sinners, were all strictly off-limits!  You just didn’t hang out with them.  You didn’t talk to them.  And sometimes,  Jesus appeared to buy into that. 

Look at how he reacted to the woman in today’s Gospel.  First, He ignores her.  Then, He talks about her, but not to her, when He tells His disciples, “I was only sent to the lost sheep of Israel.”  Finally, when she’s in the dirt in front of Him, Jesus metaphorically equates her to dogs!

But what’s her response?  She keeps after Him!  She knows who He is!  And she knows that He can help her, that He can change her circumstance! And so she keeps pursuing His help for her possessed daughter!

And what happens?  Jesus compliments her faith!  He casts the demon out of her daughter because she had faith He would do it! And He did this in spite of the fact that she wasn’t one of them! He does exactly what the Law says He shouldn’t do, because of her faith.  She was convinced of the truth of what she had heard about Jesus…and Jesus responded to that conviction!

Have you ever known anyone who was a convert to Catholicism?  I know a bunch; heck, I live with one.  One thing I notice about converts, almost universally, is that, if they came to Catholicism on their own, if they made a decision to come into full communion with the Catholic Church, there was something that drove them there.  There was something positive about being a Catholic Christian that answered a question in their hearts.  And, having made that decision to join themselves to Christ in His Church, they are a lot of times the most on fire for the Church!

But what about those of us who were born into this faith of ours?  What do they see, these brothers and sisters who have decided to join us, that has them so on fire for the faith?  And why is it hard for us to see the same thing, and to have the same fire?

 Today’s readings really hit to the heart of that question.   

In our day, we would look at someone who showed as much conviction as this gentile woman like she was a nut.  Religion isn’t supposed to get you abused.  Religion is not supposed to cause “controversy”.  In fact, what’s the maxim about conversation among people you don’t know well?  Don’t discuss politics…and religion, right?  So for us, this Gentile woman is way strange! 

But in reality, isn’t that the kind of faith Jesus calls us to, brothers and sisters?  A faith that makes us act out of our realizing who Jesus is, and what He’s left us in the Church?  Sure it is!  We’re called to a faith that motivates us to tell everyone about what we believe!  We’re called to be disciples of Christ, spreading the Good News about who He is, and who He’s made us to be!

And we’re even called to be disciples in the face of criticism.  We’re called to be disciples in the face of ignorance and prejudice.  And we’re called to be disciples to all, even if it causes some people to turn their backs on us, and to reject us for who we are as Catholic Christians!

But…that gets pretty hard, doesn’t it?  If you’ve ever had a die-hard Baptist evangelizing you (in your face), and criticizing your faith, then you know how hard it can be.  If you’ve ever plucked a flyer from Tony Alamo “Ministries” off of your windshield after Mass, or had someone step up to you at school or at work and ask you “Why do Catholics do this or that?”, and been without an answer, then you know how hard it can be.  If you’ve ever lost a family member to some other denomination, or some other faith tradition, because “something isn’t right about Catholicism”, then you know how hard it can be.

But…if you’ve taken the time to learn about the why’s of Catholicism, then you know it doesn’t have  to be that hard!  If you read the articles in publications like “Word Among Us”, or if you’ve picked up any of the CDs in the narthex, then you know that our faith is reasonable!  If you’ve read books by Scott Hahn, or Jeff Cavins, or any other convert to the faith, then you know why these people left everything to find Jesus in the Catholic Church!

And if you’re yearning for that kind of knowledge, if you want to learn more about the “why’s” of Catholicism, then you can start reading, and talking, about it.  And you can plan to attend the Apologetics class we’re starting in the parish in September.  And you can learn to explain your faith clearly, to defend it charitably, and to share it confidently.
Conclusion

Remember the woman who petitioned Jesus in today’s Gospel?  No one asked her what she believed.  They just assumed she was wrong, because she was  gentile, and they ignored her until she got so loud that they had to deal with her.  And it was her faith that Jesus saw. It was her faith in Jesus that saved her daughter from possession.

That woman saw something in Jesus, and in the stories she had heard about Him, that convinced her He could help her.  The converts we were talking about also saw something of Christ, in His Church, that caused them, in some cases, to brave persecution (yes, even today!) for the sake of the Church.

What is it they see?  What is it about the Church of Rome, the Church of the Apostles, that would cause people to turn themselves inside out in order to get it?

We should know.  And we can know, if we just try. 

Can we defend our faith charitably?  Can we share our faith confidently?  It’s what Jesus calls us to be able to do. 

But…What do we see?

Announcing the Beginning Apologetics Classes!

In my vanity, I assume most of you have been waiting with bated breath for this post to come along. We finally have the details of our Beginning Apologetics course ready to go, and here are the details:

The class will be presented on Sunday mornings from 10:20 a.m. to 11:20 a.m. in the 8th grade Science classroom of the school building (next to the library, down the hallway that runs beside the gym). This class will be led by Deacon Chip Jones (me). A parallel (and completely interchangeable) class will be presented on Wednesday evenings from 7:00 p.m. to 8:15 p.m. in Trinity Hall B & C (this location is subject to change) by Deacon Bob Skinner. We will be using the text Beginning Apologetics from San Juan Catholic Seminars; books will be pre-ordered, and will be available on the first days of the class for $10.00.

The first Sunday class will meet on September 14, 2008. The first Wednesday class will follow on September 17. The schedule of classes runs all the way out to Sunday, December 14/Wednesday, December 17. Each class is designed to last 45 minutes to one hour, and will follow the text and study guide exactly. The text we are using breaks things up very nicely; when we are finished, we will have conducted an overview of the most important tenets of our faith, and will have a good enough grasp of them to defend them in charity to our separated brethren.

OK, some logistics.

First, if you would like to participate, I need you to let me know. Please email me at chip.jones@stann.cdom.org with the following information:

Name of each attendee

Contact phone number

Contact email address

Name(s) and age(s) of child/ren needing child care

We are pre-ordering 50 sets of resources (Unit 1 text and study guide, and the Catholic Verse Finder) for this class; it’s my prayer that this won’t be enough. Please bring $10.00 per set to your first class whenever you come, and we will sell our books till they run out. After that (or instead, if you like) you can go to Amazing Grace Catholic Book Store, in the plaza at Appling and US 64, and purchase the books. You should also have a Bible (New American Bible is the best one to use); you might also invest in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. We’ll talk about other resources you may want to consider later.

I am pumped about us getting this off the ground. Please tell all your friends about it, and bring someone with you. Aren’t you tired of your Bellevue Buddies browbeating you about your faith? Let’s get in shape to convert them to the One True Church!

Peace!

Natural Family Planning and Protestants

It’s always interesting to me to find articles that talk about how Protestants “discover” some truth in Catholic teaching that they’d previously rejected.  With a hat tip to Deacon Greg Kandra of The Deacon’s Bench blog, here’s a very nice article about the “discovery” of NFP by Protestants.  God bless ‘em; I congratulate anyone who decides to give Truth a try.  

Take a look.  And feel free to get in touch if you want to talk about it.

A Prayer for Priests

I served the bishop yesterday (August 9, 2008 ) at our parish during the ordination to the diaconate of two men, seminarians who will be ordained to the priesthood next spring. While observing all of the priests in attendance, I was put in mind of this post by Deacon Greg Kandra.

For all that has gone on in our parish over the last few years, I don’t think anyone could deny that prayer is needed for ALL our priests, not only the ones assigned by the Bishop to St. Ann Bartlett, but ALL of the priests of the Diocese of Memphis.  They are a tremendous bunch of men; talented every one of them in different ways, and a blessing to us all.  But from out here, it’s hard to know *what* struggles any particular priest may be facing at any given time: it’s their job to be strong for all of *us*, and they don’t let on that they themselves are facing challenges every day.

Pray for our priests, people.  They need our love and support, and they need our prayer.  How much holier a parish, a diocese, a universal Church might we be of we all lifted our shepherds in prayer instead of just observing their faults?

Peace!

Here’s One for All You School Parents (and the rest of us, too!)

Deacon Greg Kandra reports on a Catholic School with…wait for it…NO TUITION. Nada. For NOBODY. See the Story Here.

I don’t know about you, but this made me think.  At a time when our parish is struggling financially, to the point of putting in flourescent lighting in the church and locking buildings to save on utility costs, here’s a parish that manages to educate almost 400 students…with no tuition.  One that has done it consistently for 25 years.  One that does NOT have an endowment to work from (as do our diocese’s Jubilee Schools).

How?  Simple:  the people of the parish tithe.  Just like our separated brethren at Bellevue Baptist.  Works out to about $550 per family in their case.

I’m not suggesting that we go to a no-tuition model for our school… but it makes ya think, don’t it?  What could we be doing differently as a parish family…to make things work better?  Needs prayer, methinks…