8:00 a.m. Doors Open – Continental Breakfast

9:00 a.m. Welcome, Opening Prayer and Remarks by – Bishop Salvatore Cordileone

9:30 a.m. Staying Connected... Being Nourished by My Faith and God, with questions
              from participants - Fr. Henry Rodriguez

10:15 a.m. Break with refreshments

10:30 a.m. Reflection Sessions (Choose one)

         1. Is the Spirit Alive in Me? Sr. Barbara Quinn, RSCJ
         2. The Sacrament of Reconciliation, is it for Me? - Fr. Bill Springer
         3. Está el Espíritu Vivo en Mí? – Fr. Alexis Foyo, OSB
         4. El Sacramento de Reconciliación, es para mí? – Fr. John Auther, SJ

11:30 a.m. Lunch with presentation by Mother Antonia, “God is Love”

1:00 p.m. Introduction to Healing Rooms and Confessional Spaces

1:15 p.m. Confessions Available (until 3:30 p.m.) and Healing Rooms Open

4:15 p.m. Closing session before Mass – Sr. Margaret Eilerman, CSJO

5:00 p.m. Mass in English

Healing Rooms will Include:
The Counseling Room
The Semi-Quiet Room
Eucharistic Adoration
Creative Outlet Room
Healing Tough Room
Total Quiet room
Health and Community Resource Room
Quiet Visitation Room (with refreshments)
 

Light for the Way, A Lenten Day of Renewal for Men and Women Living with HIV or AIDS
Saturday, April 1, 2006
Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church
4177 Marlborough Ave., San Diego

There is no charge for this event.  Seating will be limited to 60, so please register early.
 

To register online starting Friday, February 24, visit:  www.osmelink.org/registration
 

An event brochure will be available online starting Friday, February 24, go to: www.osmelink.org/retreat.pdf

For more information, or to register by phone call:


Joseph Horejs at the OSM 858-490-8323
 

Number 4:  Catholic Lobby Day in Sacramento  -  Join the OSM staff (Linda, Jim, Joseph and Kent) and 30 other parishioners at the 8th annual Catholic Lobby Day at the Capitol in Sacramento on Tuesday, April 25, 2006

We will join with more than 1,200 other Catholics from across the State in Sacramento to pray (entire group attends Mass), sing, march, have lunch, and then visit our State Assembly Members and State Senators.  It's been called "quite a day," making past participants very proud to be Catholic and willing to make their voices heard by those in power.

It's a long day but a very rewarding one.  Please check out the schedule below.

Schedule for Catholic Lobby Day
Tuesday, April 25, 2006

2. Call the Office for Social Ministry at 858-490-8323 or email us at reportback@diocese-sdiego.org  to let us know that you have made your reservation and provide us with your address and e-mail address.

3.  Attend one planning meeting at the Pastoral Center where we will decide upon the issues to be taken to Sacramento and learn more about individual legislators and legislative visits.  The planning meetings will be scheduled for mid-April.  You will be able to choose between a 1:00 p.m. and a 7:00 p.m. meeting.

4. Meet at the San Diego Airport about 5:30 a.m. on April 25, 2006 at the Southwest gate area for flight SW 2300.

That's it!

Catholic Lobby Day will be a gathering of people of faith raising their voices in "sincere dialogue... and with anxious interest... seeking the common good." [Vatican II] 

For the eighth consecutive year, the California Catholic Conference (CCC) is hosting Catholics from all over California who are interested in exercising their "faithful citizenship" in their state's Capitol.  The OSM and the CCC welcomes all who are interested in meeting with elected officials to speak on behalf of those who are poor, vulnerable or voiceless.

Eighth Annual Catholic Lobby Day
Tuesday, April 2, 2006, 6:30 a.m. to 7:50 p.m.
San Diego to Sacramento and back SW #2300 and SW #1975
Depart from the San Diego Airport

For information or questions about Catholic Lobby Day, contact Kent Peters at 858-490-8323.

Number 5:   The Doctors Are In – your neighborhood that is, and you are invited to the Dedication of St. Vincent de Paul Village's new Mobile Health Clinic on Thursday, February 23, 2006 at 2:00 p.m. at the Paul Mirable Center Court Area, St. Vincent de Paul Village, 1501 Imperial Avenue, San Diego, CA 92101

The Mobile Health Clinic is an outreach of the San Diego Health & Faith Alliance and St. Vincent de Paul Village Family Health Center, a clinic located within Father Joe’s Villages. It is an extension of the Alliance’s mission to provide health care services free of charge to those who have no other access to care by taking these services into communities where they are most needed.

The Mobile Health Clinic provides its services through the collaborative efforts of several universities and accredited professional training programs in San Diego County.  Services will be provided by healthcare professional trainees from San Diego educational institutions, under the supervision of their faculty members.

That training team includes:
- Resident physicians from UCSD School of Medicine
- Pharmacy trainees from UCSD School of Pharmacy
- Nursing students from several Schools of Nursing in San Diego
- MFT trainees from the University of San Diego 
- Chaplain interns from the accredited CPE programs in San Diego
- Faculty members from each of the above programs for on-site supervision  

The Mobile Health Clinic will provide health care services, free of charge, to those in our community who have no other access to care.  Services will be similar to those provided in a family physician’s office.  The Mobile Health Clinic will travel on a regular, recurring schedule to faith-based and community service organizations in San Diego County, and the health professionals in training will provide these services to local families at each site. 

While the St. Vincent de Paul Village Family Health Center has a priority of service to the homeless community, the San Diego Health & Faith Alliance and the Mobile Health Clinic serve primarily working families in the community who have no health care insurance.   

You are warmly welcomed to come to the dedication of the Mobile Health Clinic.  SVDP Village would like to thank everyone for the patience and support demonstrated over the past months as the community waited for the delivery of this beautiful clinic on wheels!

SVDP's Mobile Health Clinic Dedication
Thursday, February, 23, 2006, at 2:00 p.m.
Paul Mirabel Center Court Area, St. Vincent de Paul Village
1501 Imperial Ave., San Diego, CA

 

For more information, call M. Jean Serafy, 619-247-0700.
 

Short Reports on OSM Related Issues/Events

Number 1:   In the January 27th issue of e-link we promised a link to the Southern Cross article on the January, 2006 Pro-life events in San Diego and San Francisco.  Below is a link to the article?

By Denis Grasska

SAN DIEGO -- Thousands of Californians commemorated the anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's controversial Roe v. Wade decision last month by participating in the various marches, vigils and prayerful protests organized throughout the state...

http://www.thesoutherncross.org/default.asp?issueid=03-sept-11&cid=1&aid=217

The Southern Cross

Number 2:   A link to a Southern Cross article on the El Centro Deanery Culture of Life Fair will be made available in the next e-link bulletin.

We are happy to report that the Culture of Life Fair in El Centro was a tremendous success!  Bishop Robert Brom addressed an audience of five hundred people from the Imperial County on the very important issue of creating a Culture of Life. 

Workshop topics included Culture-of-Life issues including: pro-life ministry, domestic violence, end of life care, worker justice (see photo below with Deacon Harry Guess of Christ the King, Bet Lawrence of the ICWJ and Kathleen Spreen and IVC for ICWJ presenting on worker justice), detention ministry, ministry to Catholics with same-sex attractions and immigration.  Thanks to Bishop Brom and all of the speakers for making the event such a wonderful experience. 

Thank you also to St. Mary's Parish and the faithful Committee of Culture of Life Coordinators from the El Centro deanery for making the event possible!  An extensive story will follow in the coming issue of the Southern Cross and will be linked in the next e-link.

Life Response:

I printed the petition in opposition to AB 651, the physician assisted suicide bill, from the Californians Against Assisted Suicide web site, www.ca-aas.com, and solicited signatures in three places: at home, at work, and at a St. Michaels 7th Grade Girls Varsity Soccer game (I'm the coach).  Everyone I asked was more than happy to sign.  It's amazing, but very few signers knew that this bill was moving through the California Legislature.  I'll be mailing in my signature sheets next week.  I still have a few prospective signers to contact. 
 
Kent Peters


 

1. Prayerful witness for life at two locations (Sixth and Palm in San Diego and Pomerado Road in Poway) in San Diego County

Each Saturday of the month:  20 decades of the Rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet are prayed at Family Planning Associates, Sixth and Palm, San Diego, 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m.  For more information, call 858-748-2109.
 
2nd Saturday of the month:  20 decades of the Rosary are prayed in procession past 4 clinics following the 7:30 a.m. Mass, 15546 Pomerado Road, Poway.  For more information, call 858-748-2109.

2. St. Dismas Guild sponsors two weekly hours of prayer for the unborn in North County

Join members of St. Dismas Guild for a rosary picket at Womancare, 120 S. Craven Way, San Marcos, (across from Cal State San Marcos), Tuesdays, 9-10 a.m.

The Guild also sponsors prayer (the rosary) in front of PayLess at Mission Avenue and Escondido Blvd. 347 W. Mission on Thursdays, 10:30-11:30 a.m.  For information on these prayer vigils, call 760-751-8541.
 

3. St. Rose of Lima sponsors a regular Thursday Pro-Life Prayer Vigil in Chula Vista

Please join St. Rose of Lima parishioners every Thursday after the 8 a.m. Mass at St. Rose of Lima, Chula Vista, for a pro-life prayer vigil at the clinic located at 261 Church Street, Chula Vista.   For more information, call Evangely Aliangan, 619-427-0230.

4. St. John the Evangelist Parish in Encinitas Pro-Life Mass and Rosary held on the first Monday of each month.

The first Monday of every month is designated Pro-Life Monday at St. John the Evangelist Church, 1001 Encinitas Blvd, Encinitas.  The 8:00 a.m. Mass will be followed by a Rosary for Life.  For more information, please call Helene McIlhon at 858-756-0622.

5. Most Precious Blood Parish Rosary Prayer Vigils held on Wednesdays and Saturdays each week

The Pro-Life Prayer Group from Most Precious Blood sponsors a Rosary Prayer Vigil in front of the Clinica Medica abortion facility at 1550 Broadway, Chula Vista every Wednesday and Saturday at 8:45 a.m.  For more information, please call Shirley Henry at 619-420-7096 or Luis Mendoza at 619-300-5563


6. Most Precious Blood Parish Rosary Prayer Vigils held on Wednesdays and Saturdays each week

The Pro-Life Prayer Group from Most Precious Blood sponsors a Rosary Prayer Vigil in front of the Clinica Medica abortion facility at 1550 Broadway, Chula Vista every Wednesday and Saturday at 8:45 a.m.  For more information, please call Shirley Henry at 619-420-7096 or Luis Mendoza at 619-300-5563

I hope you enjoy Stan Guthrie's thoughts on God and human suffering.


Living Sacrifices
Life is about more than minimizing pain and maximizing pleasure

by Stan Guthrie | posted 01/27/2006 09:45 a.m.

View the article at:

 http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2006/104/52.0.html

 
Last week, the Supreme Court, in a 6-3 vote in Oregon v. Gonzales, struck down the right of the federal government to prohibit doctors from prescribing lethal doses of medication to patients who want to commit suicide. The court was weighing Oregon's controversial, voter-approved Death with Dignity Act, which applies to patients who have been diagnosed as terminally ill and who have six months or less to live.

The federal Controlled Substances Act, however, permits the government to permit a drug's use only for a "legitimate medical purpose." According to a CT news report, "In 2001, Attorney General John Ashcroft issued a directive 'that assisting suicide is not a "legitimate medical purpose" … and that prescribing, dispensing, or administering federally controlled substances to assist suicide violates the CSA.' "

Apparently states now have the right to decide whether suicide is a "legitimate medical purpose."

Absent a push in Congress for a law specifically targeting euthanasia (not likely given public sentiment related to last year's Terri Schiavo case), expect more states to enact such legislation now that the high court has given them the green light.

This is a return to the paganism of ancient Rome, when the old were left to die. Yes, sometimes pulling the plug is the only compassionate option we have, such as in cases of brain death. But expect the pressure to increase on those with much less dire conditions to seek their own demise.

As Diane Coleman of the disability rights group Not Dead Yet notes, "Making suicide easy and socially approved for people who . . . feel like burdens on their families, is discrimination against a socially devalued group. Assisted suicide is not a benefit; it's a threat." Indeed, a report on assisted suicides under Oregon's Death with Dignity Act found that in 47 percent of the cases, one of the motives in the decision was "concern about being a burden on others."

In the Netherlands, which legalized euthanasia in 1995, old people also feel pressure to end it all. Arno Heltzel of the Catholic Union for the Elderly supports "voluntary euthanasia," but even he acknowledges the existence of "social pressure" in Holland toward old people because of high medical costs. "Old people have to excuse themselves for living," Heltzel told The Wall Street Journal. "When they say that all of their friends are dead, people say, 'Maybe it is time for you to go too,' rather than, 'You need to find new friends.'"

The Oregon law also tempts doctors to violate their Hippocratic Oath to "do no harm." According to David Stevens of the Christian Medical Association, "This lethal violation of medical ethics erases a prohibition that has protected patients since the time of Hippocrates. Before Hippocrates, patients couldn't know for sure if their doctor would heal them or kill them. This decision moves the practice of medicine one step closer to ethical mayhem."

Beyond all this, we seem have forgotten that suffering often brings blessings to those who are trained by it, especially followers of Christ. As James wrote to suffering believers, "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." Pain, which C.S. Lewis called "God's megaphone," is a necessary part of life in this fallen world.

Robertson McQuilkin resigned in 1990 as president of Columbia Bible College and its graduate school to care for his wife, Muriel, who was in the grip of Alzheimer's. McQuilkin told me that one night he was wondering why the Lord had removed him from public ministry.

"The next day," he said, "we went out for our walk around the block. I'd have to hold her hand to balance her. I heard this shuffling behind me. I looked back and here's a local derelict. He looked us up and down. And then he said, 'Tha's good—tha's real good. I like that.' And then he wandered off, mumbling, 'Tha's so good.' And I chuckled.

"When we got back to the garden and sat down, all of a sudden, it hit me. I said, "Lord could you speak to me through a half-inebriated voice of an old derelict? You did, and if you say it's good, that's all I needed to hear.'

"So I had that assurance all along, that this was my assignment and was pleasing to him."

Sadly, too many Christians have absorbed the world's pagan outlook and forgotten that life, in all its beauty and complexity, is a gift from God, and that not all of our assignments are what others would call pleasurable. Yet it does not cease being a gift even when its pleasures are removed.

One of my relatives cared for her bedridden husband for long, lonely years before he finally died in November. I believe the assignment ennobled her and brought her closer to God in a way that a season of ease never could. No, we never look for suffering, but when it comes, God can use it like a diamond to etch beauty in our sin-hardened souls—if we will let him.

We are not hedonists. Life is about more than simply minimizing pain and maximizing pleasure. As the apostle Paul told the church in Rome in a different context, life for the Christian involves sacrifice: "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship."

We are not our own. The ultimate evil in life is not suffering. It is failing to live for God, the source of life, both in good times and in bad.

Stan Guthrie is a senior associate editor for CT. He blogs at StanGuthrie.com.